Getting through
by 123me
Summary: All of my attention was on the 15 year old girl who had lost everything, the girl who was standing just the other side of my mother. Will revisiting the past be harder than she thought? Read and all will be explained.
1. Lost Soul

**I just had this idea while making porridge, yeah weird time to get an idea, but I decided to see what you guys think of it. It's in Gabriella's POV. May be a oneshot.**

* * *

The bells rang out throughout the church, but I'd blanked out everything around me, all of my attention was on the 15 year old girl who had lost everything, the girl who was standing just the other side of my mother, who was here today with a social worker, her father had died when she was just seven, and now, 8 years later, her mother and older brother were now also gone, the victims of a house fire that she had been the sole survivor of.

Still, she didn't cry, her ashen face said it all really; she'd run out of tears years ago, she hadn't cried since her father died.

"Mr. Montez" I heard the social worker speak and realised the service was over, I looked up towards the woman, noticing the look on her face as she spoke to my father, I knew what this was about.

I decided to blank out the rest of the conversation and turned my attention back to the girl. Ellie Montez, the daughter of my father's brother, my cousin, now, we were all she had left.

She looked back at me, with an empty, emotionless face, that was all 6 weeks ago, but I still see that look now, every time I face her, I guess I'll never truly understand what she's going through.

"You alright girls?" I heard my mom ask.

I nodded; we both knew Ellie wouldn't answer, she would only ever speak to me, and only when there was no one else around, but even that's better than she was at first.

_Flashback_

"_Anna, Where's Ellie?" I heard my dad call._

"_Didn't she go with you?" My Mom replied._

"_No, I asked if it was ok for me to leave her with you and you said yes" He answered._

"_I thought she went with you" Mom told him._

"_Gabi have you seen your cousin?" Dad asked me._

"_Not in the last hour, I'll go check the park" I spoke, heading for the door, she'd gone to the park last time._

_End Flashback_

I'd found her that time, sitting at the swings, that was when she first spoke to me, let out her emotions, but still no tears came, I let her talk, listened to her, she told me nobody had really listened since her Mom had died, I promised that from then on, I always would, and I've kept that promise, I lost my boyfriend over it, I spent all of my free time with her, I thought he would have understood that she needed me, but I guess he didn't, and when it came down to it, she needed me more, Troy can get any girl he wants anyway, I'm the only person that listens to Ellie, Mom and Dad have tried, so has Tyler when he's around, but he's away at college most of the time and Ellie won't speak to them anyway.

I'm standing here watching her right now, she's staring at a blank TV screen, does she even know that the TV is off.

"You know it helps to have the screen turned on" I decided to point out, I'd only managed to make her smile once since she's been here, that's the only time she has smiled since she lost the last of her immediate family.

She turned and looked at me, I knew that look, I'd adapted it myself enough, it was a look I gave myself when I was in deep thought and had been distracted.

"It helps not to think about it" I tried, knowing what she was thinking about.

She looked around the room, checking to see if anyone else was present, then said, "I can't stop thinking about them Brie, I want them back"

"I know you do," I told her, sitting down next to her and hugging her.

"You've lost a lot for me haven't you?" She asked.

"That's not important" I tried to reassure her.

"It is, you gave up your boyfriend for me, you never go out anymore, I heard your dad say you used to be out all the time, and now your always here, for me" I was shocked to see tears in her eyes.

"It's not your fault I stay in, Troy didn't understand, some of my friends do, I'll be fine, as long as you promise me you will be" I continued, I wasn't going to let her get depressed again.

"Do you miss them, your friends?" She asked.

"Sometimes" I admitted, "but they're only friends, they may not always be there, your family, I know I can trust you without question"

"But nobody ever stays, everybody dies, everybody leaves" She let the tears fall.

"I'm not going anywhere for a long time" I comforted her. "Your mom and brother would still be here with you if they had a choice"

"Why does all this happen to me?" She asked.

We both sat there, deep in thought, nothing like what she's been through has ever happened to me, not even close, I still had both of my parents, my brother, although he's away at college, at least he's alive.

"I'm glad your still here Brie" Ellie finally spoke, and I knew at that moment, that I'd gotten through to her.

* * *

**What do you think? For now it's a oneshot, but if more than 3 people want me to carry on, I will, IM's and comments, I get both of them, obviously.**


	2. Going Back

**I decided to carry on because I have more ideas for this than my other stories, Still Gabriella's POV, it might all be in Gabriella's POV, I'll come to a decision on that later.**

* * *

"Ellie, Anna and I have been talking about you starting school tomorrow" I heard dad tell my cousin, I was interested to see how she was going to take this, it was a pretty big thing to drop on someone on a Sunday evening.

Ellie nodded at him, which surprised me.

" 10th grade, right?" He asked, Ellie nodded again.

"Don't be so worried, Gabi will be there" I hard him point out, that's good I guess, that she's coming to East High with me, might make it a little less stressful for her.

"I'm not worried" Ellie spoke to him for the first time.

"That's good," He answered.

Tyler had come home for the weekend, something he hadn't done that often until Ellie came, Mom and Dad had asked him to come more since then, because Ellie had lost enough already and she didn't need to feel like she was losing him, which was weird, because Ellie and Tyler never really mixed with eachother when he was here.

"So, Me and Ellie are going to school tomorrow?" I asked.

"Yes" Mom confirmed. "You'll love East High El, Gabi does"

Ellie looked at me for confirmation so I smiled at her, I did like East High, I'd just hardly been there for the past few weeks, I'd been in the odd day, the school understood the whole family thing and Taylor had been bringing me all of the work I was missing, Ellie stayed out the way when she was here, I'm not sure Taylor's even seen Ellie, and me, I haven't seen Troy since he broke up with me 2 weeks ago, I don't think I can face him yet.

Monday dawned quicker than I would have liked and I had to get Ellie up at 6am, she'd got so used to late starts.

"Come on El" I said as I shook her awake.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"6.15, you're meant to be up already," I told her.

45 minutes later we were both sitting in the kitchen, the only other person we'd seen that morning so far was my dad, going out to work, Tyler had left late last night and Mom wasn't up yet, she'd stayed up till the early hours because Tyler promised to call when he got back to campus.

"So, do you actually like East High, or is it just your mom?" Ellie asked.

"It's great there, everyone's so nice, well, most people, I'll introduce you to my friends, that way you'll know more people than me" I answered.

"At least I won't be alone at this school" She spoke softly.

"You were alone at your last one?" I asked.

"I didn't really want to know anybody there, I wanted to be original, not part of a clique, kind of like you, in a way," She told me.

I smiled, she must have heard off of her brother that I'd pretty much divided East High when I'd started there, disbanding cliques and having everyone mixing after only a few days.

"Good for you, why should we bow down to social restrictions" I agreed.

Glancing at my watch I noticed that we had been talking for longer than I thought.

"We'd better go, shouldn't really be late should we" I pointed out as I stood up, I left a note for my mom, she'd want to know how Ellie had been this morning.

I noticed Taylor as soon as I turned the corner towards my locker, she was standing with Troy and Chad, I hadn't told her I was coming in today, I really didn't want to go over there, not while he was there, but what choice did I have, they were my friends too, and I promised Ellie.

"Why'd you stop Brie?" I heard my cousin ask.

"No reason" I smiled convincingly, "Come on, my friends are over here"

She followed me over to them.

"Hi guys" I spoke when I reached them.

"Gabi!" Taylor practically screamed, startling Ellie and making me laugh,

"Calm down Tay, This is Ellie" I explained, "My cousin"

I noticed the look on Troy's face change, he did know about her, but now he seemed shocked, why, he knew she existed.

"Hi" Taylor smiled at her.

Ellie weakly waved back.

"I have to take her to the principals office, so I'll see you in homeroom" I told them and led Elle away.

"That was Taylor?" She asked.

"Yeah, she can be a bit crazy" I answered.

"Who were the guys?" She questioned.

"That was Chad, and Troy" I told her, adding the last bit quicker than the rest.

"Your ex-boyfriend Troy?" She continued.

"Yep" I confirmed as we continued walking.


	3. Discovering Feelings

I can't shake the feeling that someone has been watching me all day, it definitely wasn't Ellie, she was with me every moment possible, Dad had picked her up today, I had science club with Taylor and decided to go, I couldn't put my life on hold forever, but even in science club after school I got the feeling I was being watched, being away from school so long must have caused me to lose all sense of reality.

I walked upstairs when I got home to hear singing; I stopped at the door to Ellie's room and listened to the rest of the song.

**(A/N: Song All saints – Never Ever)**

_My head's spinning  
Boy, I'm in a daze  
feel isolated  
Don't wanna communicate_

_I'll take a shower, I will scour  
I will rub  
To find peace of mind  
The happy mind I once owned, yeah_

_Vexing vocabulary runs right through me  
The alphabet runs right from A to Z  
Conversations, hesitations in my mind  
You got my conscience asking questions that I can't find_

_I'm not crazy  
I'm sure I ain't done nothing wrong, no  
I'm just waiting  
'Cause I heard that this feeling  
won't last that long_

_Never ever have I ever felt so low  
When you gonna take me out of this black hole?  
Never ever have I ever felt so sad  
The way I'm feeling yeah, you got me feeling really bad_

_Never ever have I had to find  
I've had to dig away to find my own peace of mind  
I've Never ever had my conscience to fight  
The way I'm feeling, yeah, I just don't feel right_

_I'll keep searching  
Deep within my soul  
For all the answers  
Don't wanna hurt no more_

_I need peace, got to feel at ease  
Need to be  
Free from pain - going insane  
My heart aches, yeah_

_Sometimes vocabulary runs through my head  
The alphabet runs right from A to Z  
Conversations, hesitations in my mind  
You got my conscience asking questions that I can't find_

_I'm not crazy,  
I'm sure I ain't done nothing wrong  
I'm just waiting  
'Cause I heard that this feeling won't last that long_

_Never ever have I ever felt so low  
When ya gonna take me out of this black hole?  
Never ever have I ever felt so sad  
The way I'm feeling yeah, you got me feeling really bad_

_Never ever have I had to find  
I've had to dig away to find my own peace of mind  
I've Never ever had my conscience to fight  
The way I'm feeling, yeah, I just don't feel right x4_

_You can tell me to my face,  
You can tell me on the phone,  
Uh, You can write it in a letter, babe  
'Cause I really need to know_

_You can write it in a letter, babe X2_

I was amazed my the strength of her voice, Ellie could sing, I didn't know Ellie could sing, what was weirder though, was that the song she was singing reflected how I was feeling right now, about my relationship with Troy, it's like she was singing my feelings, I decided to get to my room before she realised I had been listening, I don't know how she'd feel if she knew I'd heard.

I reflected on the song for the rest of the night, all through my homework, all through the conversations at dinner, why hadn't I realised how I felt about the break-up until I heard Ellie singing, or was it seeing Troy that had triggered it, and why had I felt someone following me all day? My mind is so working overtime right now.

* * *

**I really like that update, no idea why, i wasn't actually going to update again today, but i started listening to that song and was inspired.**


	4. The silent treatment

**Ok so i completely forgot about this part.**

**Disclaimer: I do not in any way own High School Musical.**

* * *

Morning's normally go off without a hitch for me, today was different, I just didn't feel like getting up, like I had some weight on my shoulders that would become heavier if I stood, I did eventually get up though, that's how I came to be here now, sitting in homeroom, the feeling of dread coursing through my veins for no apparent reason.

I have that feeling again, that I'm being watched, but it's closer now, much closer, it doesn't feel strange now, it seems almost normal, that is what's freaking me out now, why does it feel normal?

After what seemed like an eternity of Ms. Darbus droning on in monologues about her life as an actress, the bell finally rang.

"That was the dullest speech I have ever heard" Taylor complained under her breath as we walked out of the room.

"I didn't hear much of it." I admitted, " I just knew she was speaking."

"Something on your mind?" She asked, "Don't say no, I can tell there is."

"It's Ellie." I lied, "She was singing last night, she's an amazing singer, I didn't know that, I don't really know anything about her."

"Things like that take time, Gabi, you'll be complaining that you know her too well soon enough." Taylor pointed out.

"I guess." I answered half-heartedly, that was probably what alerted her.

"What's really wrong?" She asked, "I want the truth."

"That was the truth." I insisted as a feeling of unease washed over me again.

"This isn't over." Taylor informed me as she turned a corner to go off to her lesson.

I continued walking in a relatively straight line down the hallway towards my first class; that's when I saw them, Ellie and Troy in deep conversation, what could he possibly have to say to her.

My cousin noticed me and gestured for me to go over to them, so I did.

"Your gonna make me late for class, El." I pointed out when I reached them.

"I'm more important than class." Ellie self-confidently grinned.

I felt Troy's gaze on me but continued looking at my cousin; I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of acknowledgement.

"So, you ok?" I asked her.

"Yeah, your right about East High it's great, Troy was just telling me about some of the crazy things Chad does, and there's this guy in my homeroom, he's so amazingly hot." Ellie answered.

"Spill!" I ordered, "But not now, I'm gonna be late, and so are you"

"Point taken." She sighed and walked off, I followed her with my eyes and started walking, still ignoring Troy.

I felt him following close behind me, I'd forgotten we had the same class, part of me wishes that he wasn't going to be there, I'd just have to deal.

I walked into the lab and took my usual place, he took his place right next to me, I didn't want to be stuck next to him, but I wasn't going to move for him.

"So this is how it's gonna work?" He suddenly asked.

I didn't answer, just started copying the notes that were on the board.

"You have to speak to me sometime." He tried; I still said nothing, continuing to copy the notes.

"Gabi, I met your cousin, Ellie isn't it?" Sharpay questioned as she appeared in front of me.

"Yeah." I answered, glad of the distraction, "How did you know she was my cousin? I know I told a few people, but I don't remember mentioning it to you."

"As soon as she said Montez I asked if she was related to you, she told me," Sharpay explained.

"She's been talking to nearly everyone, it's kinda weird, she hardly ever speaks at home." I continued the conversation.

"Sharpay." Troy piped up, "Seeing as Gabi's speaking to you, can you tell her to talk to me?"

"Grow up!" I muttered under my breath just quiet enough so that neither of them heard it.

"What's happened between you two?" Sharpay questioned, did she seriously not know?

" Miss Montez?" I heard Mr Biggs say, I looked up at him as he continued speaking, "I've just received an message for you from the main office, they want you to go straight there, regarding an Eleanor Montez, a relation of yours I presume?"

I nodded as I stood up, remembering what Dad had told me the previous morning, he'd asked the school to get me if anything was wrong with Ellie, because I was the only one that had learnt to deal with her.


	5. Graffiti and Tears

I walked slowly towards the main office, what could Ellie have possibly done in little more than 5 minutes.

"I know you're new at East High Miss. Montez but graffiti in the halls is not the way to be accepted fully into the school community" I heard the secretary say as I approached the office.

I knocked on the slightly ajar door and entered, seeing my cousin sitting on a chair by the desk, I went and stood behind her.

"What's she done?" I asked, although I already knew.

"Graffiti in the halls, you did go through the rules with her?"

"Yeah, I did," I answered, "I know this may sound strange, but what exactly did she write or draw?"

"Just 3 words, something about someone called Brent" The woman replied.

"Brent?" I repeated and the woman nodded.

I gazed down sympathetically at her when she looked at me.

"I think I can deal with this," I informed them.

"Principal Matsui has been informed," Her answer came.

"There's not much he can do," I admitted, "He didn't know Brent, we did,"

I noticed tears in Ellie's eyes, the second time she's cried in years.

"El, it's ok." I reassured her. "Remember what I said."

The secretary was looking at Ellie with a look of concern now, probably because of the tears, not many people are good with tears.

* * *

**Short i know, but my sister wants the comp and she hardly ever gets on.**


	6. The walkaway

I sat on the floor in one of many East High corridors with my back against the locker, Ellie had sat there minutes after we left the main office, she obviously didn't feel like going to class, and I wasn't going to leave her like this.

"You miss him don't you?" I asked after a while.

"More than anything, it hurts Brie," She answered.

"I know, I know" I lied, I didn't know what it was like. "What did you write?"

"Brent lives on," She sighed, glancing up.

I followed her gaze to see the three words nearly scratched into the surface of a locker.

"It's my locker, why can't I do what I want to it?" She questioned.

"Because it won't always be yours, anyway, you said you were okay earlier, following this I know you weren't, why did you lie?" I quizzed.

"I didn't want to make my problems your problems, I've done that too much already," She explained sadly.

"Ellie, I promised I would always listen and I will, but you have to let me," I pointed out.

"You want the truth from me? All the time?" She quizzed.

"Yeah" I answered.

"In that case I should probably tell you what Troy and I were really talking about earlier," She admitted, surprising me.

"What?" I blurted out, shocked.

"I lied about that, he didn't want you to know, not yet anyway, but if you want the truth…" Ellie began as we heard a voice coming from round the corner.

"Did you hear, Troy Bolton's single now," Came a girl's voice.

"I heard, something about that Montez girl cheating on him, she'll pay for that, no one cheats on Troy," Came another voice, I recognised this second voice as Louise Chalmers, Head Cheerleader.

"Lulu, you should so get with Troy, you two would be so sweet together," The first voice came again, much closer now.

Soon they would be coming round the corner, and I didn't want to be here when they did, so I grabbed Ellie's wrist and quickly rushed her through a door that led to the roof, more specifically, the garden on the roof.

"Ignore them." Ellie said when we finally stopped, gasping for breath, "What self respecting person would let anyway call them Lulu anyway?" **(a/n: I had to do that, because Lulu is one of my nicknames)**

"Did they say that I cheated on him?" I asked her, thinking that maybe this was what they had been talking about earlier.

"He thought you did," Ellie admitted, "He said he broke up with you because he thought you'd made me up for cover, then he met me and he so regrets it Gabi, you have to talk to him,"

"After that?" I tried to shout, it came out as little more than a whisper "I can't,"

"This is exactly why he didn't want you to know," Ellie sighed. "He said it'd be harder for you to forgive him if you knew he ever thought that."

"Why did he go to you?" I was suddenly curious.

"Apparently Taylor told him that I was the way back in," Came the short explanation. "He wants me to help him"

"Help him with what?" I questioned.

"The plan," She spoke as if it was simple, like I should have known, she must have noticed the confused look on my face, she was grinning, "You'll know soon enough,"

"Ellie, What's going on?" I asked almost desperately as she checked her watch.

"Damn, we're late," She exclaimed, "Did you hear the bell?"

I nodded; it had gone almost as soon as we had got up here.

"Come on," She grabbed my wrist, and practically dragged me back down the steps and out into the corridor, it took me a while to figure out that she was taking me to my locker.

He was standing there waiting when we got there, smiled when he saw us.

"One Cousin, safely delivered," Ellie joked when she managed to get me over there.

"What's this about Troy?" I snapped.

"Us," He replied as Ellie ran over towards Taylor, who was now watching from across the hall.

"Troy, there is no us, you broke up with me, remember," I continued to be bitter.

"I didn't mean to, I was stressed, with all the school, and the basketball, I thought I'd be able to deal better without a girlfriend," He defended.

"Don't even try lying to me," I said in what I saw as an emotionless tone, "Ellie told me everything, she didn't have a choice of course, not after Louise Chalmers and whoever it was opened their mouths"

"You can't believe anything Louise Chalmers said," He tried stating, but I could tell he was worried now.

"It's not her I believe, it's Ellie, and they happen to be saying the same thing, but of course, it can't be Ellie, because apparently Ellie's just someone I made up to keep my indiscretions a secret," I scoffed.

"Don't be like this," He begged.

"Of course not, if I stay in this mood, I'll create another family member," I spoke, sounding dramatically more cheery.

"I was wrong, ok, I admit it," He announced, a few nearby people had stopped at that line, Troy Bolton never admitted he was wrong, I looked across the corridor towards where Ellie and Taylor had been, but they had gone, I should thank Taylor later, she obviously took Ellie away so my cousin doesn't have to see the furious side of me, I looked back to Troy and noticed he was distracted by the amount of people staring at us, I took this chance to get away, but he grabbed my hand as I tried to walk.

"Where are you going?" He asked, trying to get me to stay.

I pulled my hand back.

"To resurrect my dead cousin of course, I must be able to resurrect family members if I can create them," I answered sarcastically as I walked away.


	7. Personal

"Delivery for a Gabriella Montez," came a voice as I opened the front door.

"Another one?" I sighed, taking it.

"Yes," the man confirmed, it was the 3rd time he had been this week, the 16th time I'd got a delivery.

I signed for it and took it inside, handing it straight to Ellie.

"Put it with the others," I spoke.

"He's not gonna give up you know," she pointed out.

"He'll get the message," I claimed, "eventually,"

"He's already got the message Brie," she told me, "he's just ignoring it, you should talk to him."

"I can't," I insisted.

"You can and you will," Ellie ordered. "You've put your life on hold for me for way too long, your going to talk to him, and your going to talk to him today,"

"I can't," I tried to refuse as my cell alerted me that I had another message.

I picked it up, thinking I'd be glad of the reason to get away from my cousin, I was wrong, but I didn't notice it till I read the message.

_U get the flowers??_

_Luv u, Troy_

I sighed, looking at the message, I knew Ellie was right, he wasn't going to give up, it just wasn't who he was.

"You heard me singing, didn't you?" Ellie asked.

That got my attention; she'd known I was there?

"I heard you, I knew you were there," Ellie explained, obviously noticing my confused face. "I don't mind, Brent used to do the same,"

"Brent used to listen to you sing?" I questioned.

"All the time, he wasn't like a normal brother, he took an interest in my life," She smiled at the thought of her brother.

"Tyler did aswell, with me, not you, he used to always ask how I was doing at school, he asked about my friends a lot, mainly Troy, but, not so much now, now he barely speaks," I sighed.

"Not since I came anyway," Ellie mentioned.

There she goes again, blaming herself for my life changing, when's she going to get it through her head that this is not her fault, she was standing, gazing out of the lounge window, I wasn't expecting her to say anything, but she did, just a few words, "told you you'd speak to him, open the door,"

For some reason I followed her orders, now or never I guess, and I didn't have to make it easy for him anyway.

He hugged me as soon as the door opened; I pulled back, "no, your not forgiven,"

"Didn't Ellie talk to you?" He asked.

"Yeah, she did," I confirmed, "that doesn't make it okay,"

"What do you want me to do? Tell me what you want me to say and I'll say it." He started pleading.

"You don't get it do you Troy," I interrupted, "I don't want you to know what to say, I want you to mean what you say, and I don't want countless presents to make up for this, it won't work,"

"Taylor said, actions speak louder than words, so I figured…"He began.

"Actions, Troy, not presents," I said, remaining calm, "you can't spend money and expect me to come running, that will never be enough."

"I know," He admitted, "but you are so worth it, I'm sorry ok, I shouldn't have ever even thought what I did, I was wrong."

"It's not enough," I sighed, beginning to close the door.

"Gabi, please, I Love you," He begged.

That stopped me, did he just say love?

**Sorry but I have to leave it there, because I have to update my other story.**


	8. Brother's and pranks

I stood staring at him for what seemed like ages, I knew what to say but I couldn't bring myself to say it, I don't know how long it was until I spoke but I finally said, "Prove it," and closed the door.

"What happened?" Ellie asked as I walked back into the lounge.

"Earth to Brie," She called when I didn't answer.

"I heard you," I admitted, "I gotta digest this."

"What did he say? Are you giving it another go? Tell me." She quizzed.

"He used the L word," I told her.

"The L word," She remarked obviously confused, I watched as it dawned on her, "HE SAID HE LOVES YOU!"

"God El, cool it," Her excitement was strange, but funny.

"Who loves who?" Came a voice from behind us, I turned round, just as Ellie announced, "Troy loves Brie,"

"As in cheese?" My brother teased.

"You're an idiot," Ellie grinned.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Nice to see you too, " He answered, " So, you gonna tell me about Troy or am I gonna have to ask hyperactivity over there?"

I looked over at Ellie; she was jumping up and down on the spot.

I turned back to my brother, "Does mom know you're here?"

"No, wanted to surprise her, is she here?" He told me.

"She and Dad went out, meeting colleagues for brunch or something," I explained.

"So I'm stuck with you and hype," He spoke, "Wanna go anywhere?"

"Not really, we were gonna watch a movie," I started.

"No we weren't, you were gonna tell me all about Troy, and the flowers, and the L word, and what you said and what he said," Ellie rushed at rocket speed.

"Gabi, seriously, is she ok?" He asked.

"She was completely normal, I don't know what made her this hyper," I admitted.

"Maybe it's seeing her super-hot cousin again," Tyler's self-confidence shone through.

"That's sick, Ty." I pointed out. "You know, I actually think your ego's bigger than Troy's,"

"Hey, El, wanna go anywhere today, I have time to kill until mom and dad get back," Tyler said to our cousin.

"I would, but Brie has stuff that she needs to tell me," Ellie spoke, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the stairs, "You don't want to hear this Tyler, it's girl gossip,"

"Weirdo's," Tyler called after us, he'd always called me a weirdo, when we were kids he used to say all girls were weirdo's, strange for a 21 year old to still be using the word though.

"Spill," Ellie grinned when we reached my room.

"There's nothing to tell really, "I explained, "I told him to stop sending presents, he said he loves me and I told him to prove it,"

"And he accepted that?" She asked.

"Yeah, I didn't think he would but he did," I admitted.

" So your gonna make him freak about it?" She quizzed, "Your gonna make him wait for an answer."

I nodded, "Was that all you wanted?"

"Well, yeah, but we just totally ditched your brother we have to stay up here at least a little while longer," Ellie decided. " Let's prank call people,"

"I'm guessing by people, you mean Troy?" I asked.

"Well, yeah obviously," Ellie answered. "Come on, please."


	9. Ice Cream

Ellie snatched my cell off of my bed and got hers out of her pocket.

"What should we say?" She asked.

"No idea," I told her, "Why are we doing this?"

"Because it's fun, my friend Lauren and I used to prank call people all the time, "she explained.

"You think of something then, I'll go get Tyler to go and get some ice-cream," I suggested.

"Or, we could get Troy to get the ice-cream," Ellie decided and started copying the number from my phone to hers.

"How would that work?" I asked.

"Trust me," Ellie smiled as she started dialling.

I nodded and watched her put the phone on speaker.

"Speak to me." Troy answered his cell after just 2 rings.

"We need ice-cream," Ellie told him in an almost perfect British accent.

"Who is this?" He asked.

"Two people in need of ice-cream," Ellie spoke, using the same voice. "Double chocolate to be precise,"

I laughed out loud and immediately covered my mouth.

"Right," I heard Troy say sarcastically, this was followed by the familiar sound that told us he had hung up.

We both burst out laughing.

"Do you think he knew who you were?" I questioned through giggles.

Ellie shook her head, unable to speak she was laughing so hard.

I don't know how long we were sitting up there laughing about it, but the next time I looked at my clock it was 4.32pm, it must have been around 1 that we came up.

"I'm gonna go get something to eat," Ellie suddenly said as she stood up, "We've been up here like, 3 hours."

I nodded as she left, still staring up at the ceiling.

I was startled by a knock on the doors leading onto my balcony and sat up, facing them; Troy was standing on the other side of the glass, holding something.

I went over to the doors and opened them.

"What are you…?" I started, but stopped as he held something out to me.

"Your ice-cream," He told me, handing me the tub.

"How did you know it was us?" I asked, understanding immediately why he was bringing me ice cream.

"I'd know your laugh anywhere," He explained, "would have been the perfect prank if I hadn't heard you laugh."

"That's so sweet," I smiled.

"You said you wanted ice-cream," he pointed out.

I stepped back to let him in, "What took you so long?"

"I've… err actually been in your yard a while, waiting for Ellie to go," He admitted.

"You waited for my cousin to go so you could give me ice-cream?" I quizzed.

"I waited for her to go so you don't have to share it with her," He tried.

"Now that's not fair is it?" I asked in mock seriousness.

"She won't mind." He tried.

"She'll be back any minute," I pointed out.

"The I'd better help you eat this," He tried.

"Very subtle," I giggled, sitting down at the end of my bed and opening the ice-cream tub.


	10. Brother's are idiots

**Sorry this took so long, I had a drama essay to write that took hours, I still think the essay is complete rubbish but I really wanted to update this, so I'll improve the essay when we get it back for the second draft, but seriously, I think I've had enough of Bugsy Malone to last me a lifetime, and I have 2 hours of rehearsals for it tomorrow.**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own High School Musical in any way, if I did none of the characters would be underused, and just to be on the safe side, I do not own Bugsy Malone either, it's mentioned above, I do own the characters of Ellie and Tyler.**

* * *

"What are you two doing?" Asked a voice from behind me.

Troy and I were looking out into the garden, not speaking, just being, the voice made both of us jump.

"Are you trying to scare me to death?" I questioned, turning around to face my brother.

"What's he doing here?" Tyler quizzed, I hadn't noticed that he was angry.

"I brought Gabi ice cream," Troy answered confidently.

Tyler looked at me for confirmation, when I nodded he turned back to Troy and continued speaking, "You don't get to do this, you don't get to break up with her then hang around like a bad smell, you don't get to hurt her and have her forget it all on your say so, you mess with my sister you mess with me."

"Ty, it's ok." I tried telling him.

"No, Gabi, it's not ok," Tyler stated, still glaring at Troy. " Why are you letting him do this, he's not worth it."

"You don't understand," I half-complained.

"No Gabi, you don't understand," Tyler interrupted. "He didn't see what he did to you just a few weeks ago, I came home that weekend to a normally happy sister that was barely speaking, I'm not going to let him do that to you again,"

"I won't," Troy shouted, "I'll never make that mistake again."

I heard footsteps on the stairs, Tyler hadn't answered, my parents must have heard Troy shouting.

"What's going on in here?" Ellie asked as she ran into the room, "Your parents are getting worried, Brie."

"Ellie, downstairs now," Tyler ordered, then gave me a look telling me to go with her.

"I'm not going anywhere," I spoke with newfound strength.

"You can't seriously be considering giving him enough chance?" Tyler half-asked.

"Yeah, I am, but he has a lot to prove first, and your not helping." I argued.

"You can't trust him." Tyler inputted.

"Yes she can." Troy defended.

I looked over to Ellie who had disobeyed Tyler and stayed, she was looking in awe from one to the other.

"Nobody ever fought like this at home." She finally said, more to herself than to anyone in the room. "All everybody here does is fight."

"It's healthy to fight sometimes, El." I explained. "We all need to let our emotions out."

"Mom always said we should talk, she said fighting will be the world's demise." Ellie answered.

"Well your precious mother's not around any more so what she said isn't worth much" Tyler snapped.

Ellie ran, seconds later we heard the front door slam.

"Thanks a lot." I said sarcastically to my brother before running to follow her.

I heard footsteps behind me and turned, thinking Tyler was following, but it was Troy.

"I don't think he meant it Gabs, brother's are idiots." He tried defending Tyler.

"Oh he meant it, he never got on with Brent, and this is the one way he can still get to him." I spoke as I continued running.


	11. Dealing with parents

I saw Ellie running up the road as I cleared the front door, my dad was already chasing her, if we both went the confrontation would be too much for her.

I walked back inside to my worried mother.

"What happened?" She asked as I sat down, I was still gasping for breath.

"Something Tyler said upset Ellie." Troy answered for me.

My Mom looked at him; obviously surprised he was there.

"Back again after everything?" She asked half-heartedly, I could tell she was worried about Ellie.

"I'm in a whole righting my wrongs kinda mood," He explained, he knew my mom was easier to get round than Tyler, especially when she was worried about something other than me.

Mom nodded and looked out of the window.

"Dad won't bring her back straight away," I pointed out, "he'll try and talk to her and bring her back when she won't co-operate."

"I know Gabi, but I can't help hoping, can you tell me what Tyler said?" She questioned.

"Ellie was talking about things her mom said, and Tyler said her mom's not around anymore so what she said isn't important," I willingly told, I was angry at my brother right now, for his treatment of Ellie and Troy, what gave him the right to talk to them like that.

"He really said that?" My mom asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, he said it, it really upset her." I confirmed.

"I don't know what's got into him recently, he's acting like he really does hate her, you know, like he's resented her since the day she arrived here." Mom sighed.

"It's Brent he hates." I told her. "Always has always will, just wants to get at him."

"That doesn't make sense Gabi, Brent's dead" Mom pointed out.

"I don' think Tyler cares." I answered.

"I think I just made him mad, Mrs. Montez, he didn't seem happy that I was here." Troy defended my brother.

"Can you blame him, after what you did to Gabi a few weeks ago, Tyler doesn't trust you around her and I don't think he will again, but it's not up to him or me, it's up to her so I'm going to accept that she wants you in her life, that doesn't mean Tyler will." Mom told him firmly.

* * *

**Short I know, but have you seen the update for my other story, that took a while, I will hopefully have a longer update tomorrow, depends on how school goes, hopefully I won't have tons of homework.**


	12. Memories

**Disclaimer: ****If you haven't got it, I don't own High School Musical in any way, I also do not own Cadbury's; you'll see why that's important as you read.**

* * *

It took Dad a few hours to bring Ellie back; he said he'd caught her almost straight away, but he wanted to talk to her first, and she did eventually talk.

She's been in her room since they got back, she won't even talk to me, I swear I'll kill Tyler later, just when I was getting somewhere with her, he goes and ruins it, Troy's right, brother's are idiots.

"Ellie?" I tried again, standing at the door.

No answer, I wasn't expecting one either.

"Ellie, Tyler's gone." I told her, "Mom and Dad were mad at him."

Still no answer, she'd shut herself away again, just when she'd finally opened up, finally started to trust me, and he does this.

I turned and walked back downstairs, 8pm, she'd been back an hour and said nothing, and I was guessing it would stay like that for the rest of the night.

"Nothing?" Mom asked as I walked into the kitchen.

"Nothing," I sighed in confirmation. "I got so far, she was fine, and he wrecked it all."

"I know you did," Mom spoke, "She'll speak soon honey she's just upset."

"How miserable can one person be in the space of a few months?" I complained as I sat down.

"You should ask yourself that question sweetie," She answered and I automatically knew what she was talking about.

"Mom, that's different, I lost my boyfriend, she lost her family, and Troy's practically turned all stalker on me since then, she'll never seen her family again." I claimed, but mom outsmarted me.

"She'll see her mother again." She spoke, and continued noting my confused face, "She just has to look in the mirror to see her mother, the blonde hair dipping just below the shoulders, the pale complexion, the mouth and nose, not the eyes though, she has her father's eyes, deep chocolate brown, like yours in a way."

"You notice that much?" I questioned.

"I used to think the same of you and Tyler all the time, always trying to decide whom you looked like most, as you've grown up it's become more obvious, Tyler is almost identical to your father in most ways, the only things you got from him are your eyes and brains."

"Has dad always been smart?" I decided to ask.

"As long as I've known him he has" Mom answered, "he's always likes to exceed, so he's just like you in that sense."

"What about Uncle Mark?" I asked, "I never knew much about him, I was 9 when he died."

"He was always more sporty, always on the move, I think he's the reason Ellie's a fast runner, he'd be immensely proud of her, she and Brent were his world, his life was for them, do you remember that he was a stay at home dad, that Helen, Ellie's mom, was always out at work." Mom explained.

"I remember that she was hardly ever there when we were." I half-agreed. "I just don't remember much else, and what happened to Helen's family after she died?"

"Helen's family, well her parents are dead I know that for a fact, her sister was too busy with her own kids to even consider Ellie, they couldn't contact her brother, although there is a chance he'll want Ellie with him if they ever find him, but she's 15 so it'd be her decision." I was told, it was a somewhat rushed explanation, and I understood that mom didn't want Ellie hearing it; I'd figured out from the past few weeks that Ellie near idolised her aunt, the woman that didn't want her.

"It's weird to think they're all gone now," I said, "It seems like it was just yesterday that Tyler and I were running around their yard celebrating Ellie's 6th birthday."

"You remember that?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, it was one of the few times before Uncle Mark died that Helen was actually there, and it was the day that I tipped ice-cream all over Brent and Tyler's heads because they were fighting and wouldn't cool it when I told them to." I laughed as the memory came flooding back.

_Flashback_

_"IT WASN'T ME," Ten-year-old Brent Montez screamed at his older cousin._

_"IT SO WAS, IT WAS WASN'T IT CADBURY?" Tyler shouted back._

_"I don't know," I answered truthfully._

_"SEE IT WASN'T ME." Brent yelled._

_"You guys should just cool it." I suggested, looking over at my younger cousin, Eleanor Alexia Montez, it was her birthday today, nobody should fight on a birthday._

_"I DON'T WANNA COOL IT." The boys shouted in unison._

_"Gabriella," My aunt called, "Ice cream?"_

_I knew she was only suggesting it to get be away from my fighting brother and cousin, but it gave me an idea, I ran over and got 2 bowls, promising to give one to Tyler, I'd give him one all right, and Brent,_

_I crept back over to them, neither were facing me now, quickly tipping the bowls of ice cream over their heads, I ran._

_End Flashback_

"That day was one of the last times Tyler called me Cadbury." I pointed out.

"Why did he call you that?" Mom asked.

"You know he used to call me Gabrie?" I started and continued as she nodded, "He noticed I ate chocolate a lot and started calling me Cadbury, he said it was because it rhymed."


	13. Bitterness and choices

**Disclaimer: ****Obviously I don't own High school musical, but believe it or not, I don't own Sherlock either, but I own Ellie, YAY GO ME!!!!!!**

* * *

I walked into school dreading the day ahead, Monday mornings were usually bad, but with nothing but silence from Ellie since Saturday, I knew this day was going to be harder than usual.

" Come on El, it's school, you have to speak at school." I encouraged, but gained nothing but a glare from my younger cousin.

We split ways when she went off to her homeroom, I was so close to not letting her go off on her own, but I guess she's used to feeling alone, she just needs to accept that she can't do everything by herself.

I walked into my homeroom and sat down immediately, hoping I'd be able to get away with ignoring everyone, no such luck.

"You ok?" Troy asked almost as soon as I'd sat down.

I looked up at him and simply said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well you know with Ellie, and your brother." He was nervous, I could tell, I could nearly always read him.

"I'm great, Ellie's great, everything's just great." I snapped sarcastically, I knew it wasn't his fault, but it was easier to be mad at him than the people I've had to deal with nearly every day of my life so far.

"That's not true." He pointed out.

"Full marks, Sherlock." I scoffed.

"Talk to me, please, if not for you then for me." He begged.

I looked up at him, studying his face for a while, any other person would have walked away by now, but not him, not with things between us being how they were.

"Ellie still won't talk." I finally admitted, "I don't know what I can do about it."

" Talk to her, don't stop talking, she'll soon say something even if it's just to tell you to shut the hell up." Troy half-joked.

"You really thing it'd work?" I questioned in all seriousness.

"Worth a try isn't it, I can help if you like, we can take shifts, that way she'd be putting up with two people talking to her non-stop." He answered.

"She'd hate that, she was always telling Brent to shut up." I told him.

"Brent?" He asked, his face displaying confusion.

"Her brother," I answered, "He died in the fire too."

"Gabi," Taylor called from the other end of the room, I hadn't noticed she had came in, when she reached us she looked pointedly at Troy and said, "What do you want?"

Things had hit rock bottom between the two of them since I'd came back, she was only dealing with him for Chad, and it was obvious she was trying to keep him away from me, she's not like my parents, they say my decisions are my decisions, in Taylor's mind, when it comes to this, my decisions are her decisions, and she's decided he's not worth mere seconds of my time.


	14. Egotistical T's

"So, what were you and Troy talking about earlier?" Taylor asked me as we walked into Math, our last class of the day.

"Ellie." I answered truthfully.

"Don't you think he's taking to much of an interest in her?" Taylor questioned.

"That would be because you told him she was the way back in." I pointed out and laughed at the face she made, "Yes Tay, he told me."

"I had to say something to get him off my back." Taylor tried explaining.

"It's ok Tay," I reassured her, " he's a bit of a stalker right now but I could get used to it."

" Awwww, you're being evil to him." Taylor grinned.

"Not evil, I'm just making him sweat, mom said that after what he did I should leave it a few days at least, I'm thinking a few weeks though." I admitted.

"A few weeks till what?" She quizzed.

"You know what." I spoke, and it was true, she did, she just didn't want to admit it.

"Seriously?" She almost choked.

"Seriously." I confirmed.

"Your way too soft Gab." Taylor said, "Idiotically soft."

"Can we talk about something else?" I asked, trying to get out of the conversation.

"Sure, but we'll address this issue again." Taylor answered.

I smiled gratefully and started copying formulas off of the board.

" So, what about Ellie?" Taylor started.

I looked up at her confused.

"You said that you were talking to Troy about Ellie, what about her?" Taylor explained.

"Oh, well thanks to Tyler, she's not speaking again, not to me, not to anyone, she's gone back to hating us all and she may have found out that her aunt didn't want her." I relented immediately.

"How would she know that, I didn't even know that." Taylor rushed.

"Mom and I were talking, and before then Ellie wouldn't look at us, but we were talking about her aunt, and now she's all for the dirty looks, constant evil glares, dad thinks she has an attitude problem." I explained.

"Maybe she does," Taylor considered, "You know, it could be a result of all the loss, it could be playing on her mind and the reason she's pulling herself away from you isn't because of what Tyler said, but because he reminded her of loss, she doesn't want to get too close to you incase you go too."

"I never thought of it like that." I admitted.

"Of course you didn't, it's up to your genius best friend to come up with explanations like that." She spoke self-confidently.

"So your entering the ego race aswell now, so it's between you, Troy and Tyler, maybe it's a T thing." I laughed.

She looked at be questioningly.

"Troy, Tyler Taylor, DUH" I pointed out.

"Aren't you full of jokes today." Taylor smiled.

"That was a fact Tay, not a joke, infact I should call Trish tonight, see if the egotistic T affects her." I continued.

"Trish?" Taylor quizzed.

" An old friend from New York, the only one I kept in touch with actually, I should probably ask about Amber, Josh and the others aswell, I become such a bad friend when I move." I explained.

"Then that settles it, you can't move any more." Taylor joked.

"Hopefully I won't have to, I don't think it would be good for Ellie anyway." I answered seriously, I looked to the front of the class and noticed for the first time that our teacher had begun the lesson, I saw Taylor follow my gaze.

"We should listen." She admitted.

We both began to concentrate on the lesson, neither of us wanting to risk missing any more than we already had.

* * *

**Still short but it was longer than yesterday's, i should have more time tomorrow, but remember that i end updates where they feel right, how long they are doesn't really matter if it feels right.**


	15. Angela

Math seemed to go on forever, the conversation with Taylor had awakened me to the true extent of the problem's Ellie had and I really needed to tell dad about it, to see what he thought, maybe this could be the key to understanding her.

"Is Ellie back?" I asked as I walked into the house.

"Yes, she's upstairs." Dad told me, "Wasn't she meant to wait for you?"

I nodded as I turned and gasped when I saw who was sitting with my parents.

The social worker from the funeral was watching me and sipping coffee like there was nothing else in the world.

"My daughter, Gabriella." I heard Dad tell her. "This is…"

"Angela Sutton." The woman interrupted, holding out a hand, "Eleanor's social worker."

I stood staring at her hand for a while before speaking, "What's this about?"

She put her hand down.

"I heard from your father that you've been having some trouble with Eleanor." She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You heard wrong," I said, not breaking eye contact with her, "Ellie's no trouble at all."

"Gabriella," My dad interrupted and I turned my glare on him, "how can you say there's no trouble, the girl won't speak."

"The girl has a name." I snapped, "And Tyler's the reason she won't speak, you didn't need to get her involved."

I looked over at my mom, she seemed angry, she obviously didn't agree with what dad had done either.

"You're not taking her." I stated to Angela as I made my way over to my mother.

"I wasn't going to, I just thought I should check up on her, with all the possible trouble." She answered.

I nodded, relieved inside but keeping my outer demeanour the same.

"Would I be able to talk to Eleanor?" Angela asked, looking at dad.

"Of Course." He spoke in unison with my, "No,"

I glanced sideways at my Mom, who was subtly smiling, discreetly showing her appreciation.

We heard the sound of something falling on the floor in the hallway, moments later Ellie walked in the room muttering, "Sorry."

She looked up at me, showing in her eyes that she'd heard most of what I had said; she knows I'm on her side.

"Eleanor, can I have a word?" Angela questioned almost immediately.

Ellie made a show of looking behind her before asking, "Who were you talking to?"

"You of course." Angela answered.

"You said Eleanor, my name's Ellie." My cousin pointed out, "Nobody calls me Eleanor."

"Would you like me to call you Ellie?" Angela asked her.

"I'd rather you didn't call me anything and stayed away." Ellie smirked, "they're family, what harm can they do?"

"It's not what harm they can do it's what you can do to them." Angela snapped clearly showing her irritation.

"She'd never hurt us." I joined in, "Can't say the same for you though, our grandfather always said that people like you go looking for trouble."

"Gabriella," I heard dad warn, normally at that tone I'd stop, but this time I just didn't care.

"Ellie's fine, you've seen that for yourself, haven't you got someone else's life to ruin?" I snapped.

"Gabriella, I know you care for your cousin, but it's my job to make sure she's in a suitable environment, I also need to think about your family's needs aswell and it seems to me that her attitude is rubbing of on you, you were such a sweet, quiet girl when I first met you." Angela grinned.

"Things Change," I scowled as she walked towards the door.

"I'm sure they do," She agreed way too cheerfully, "I'll be in touch Mr. Montez."

Dad waved as she drove off then turned on me.

"What the hell was that?" He hissed angrily.

" Leave her alone, you brought that on yourself," Mom defended me from her seat, "You shouldn't have called her."

Dad ignored her, continuing to watch me.

"What?" I asked, deciding to infuriate him more.

"That must have been the most idiotic thing you've ever done." He stated.

"I'm not the idiot here dad." I pointed out, making Ellie laugh.

I began to walk upstairs, Ellie following close behind me.

"Thanks," She whispered as we reached the top of the stairs, "I really do hate that woman."


	16. El

**Sorry this took so long (2 weeks) I literally had no idea how to begin the next chapter, but now I have an idea, and decided to get it written as soon as possible so I don't forget it.**

* * *

"Gab," Ellie called as I walked by her locker, I sighed as I slowly turned to her, knowing I couldn't ignore her.

It had been two weeks since we had last seen Angela, but her visit had changed my cousin, she wasn't the Ellie I had come to know, for starters she wasn't Ellie anymore, not at school anyway, here she's El, the most popular sophomore in the school, and she was calling me Gab, what happened to Brie, whatever it was, I didn't like this new her.

"Hi," I replied as I walked towards her and her group of friends.

"I want an update, you weren't home last night," She told me, "Where were you?"

"Just out," I answered, not really wanting her friends to know my personal business.

"Relax, not as if I'm gonna tell your rents." She rolled her eyes.

"They know where I was," I pointed out, "I didn't exactly sneak out."

"Yeah your too good to do that," My cousin decided.

"Was that all you wanted?" I asked, risking getting her angry.

"I dunno, was that all I wanted with my cousin, girls?" She questioned her friends.

Seriously, she has to ask them if that's all she wanted to say to me, can she not think for herself now that she's gone against everything she ever believed in, now she's dropped who she truly is has she lost her ability to speak for herself.

"I'm pretty sure that was it El." One of the girls answered cheerfully.

"Right, great, you can go, we'll catch up at home, can't wait." Ellie smiled.

I walked off without looking back, I couldn't bear seeing her like this, in a way it's worse than seeing her miserable, Brent would have known what to do, but lets face it, I have no idea what he'd decide, how he'd show her who she really is, and I'm not sure I can deal with this any longer.

"Have you told her?" Troy came up behind me and asked, making me jump.

"Don't do that," I scolded him.

"Sorry," He pouted.

"Oh no you don't, your not getting off the hook that easily, you nearly scared me half to death." I tried keeping a straight face, but laughed as his pout continued.

"So, have you told Ellie yet?" He repeated his question.

"I can't," I replied.

"Why not?" He questioned, "Don't you want to?"

"Of course I want to tell her, more than anything, it's what she wanted, us back together and now she's got it, but I can't tell her, because I want to tell my cousin, I don't want to tell this El kid, I don't know El, I'm not even sure I like her, and I'm beginning to think I'll never get to tell her because she's not my cousin, she's a completely different person." I explained.

"Ok, so that's a no go until she finds herself again, how about Tyler?" He asked.

"Mom told Tyler last night, she didn't say what he said, so I'm guessing he didn't take it well, you know, if Ellie really cared she would have asked me what had happened after that big show in the cafeteria, she was there, she saw it, I'm guessing she knew it was going to happen, but she hasn't mentioned it yet, I really thought she would, the old Ellie would." I contemplated.

"Maybe she guessed what happened after that." He suggested, "She could of, or she could have asked one of the guys."

"But why wouldn't she ask me?" I complained, "I'm her cousin, to Ellie that would have meant something, but to El, it's nothing."

"Maybe she wanted to see if you'd tell her without her asking, you know, just assumed you'd say something to her, I mean, it was pretty big." He pointed out.

"Yeah it was," I agreed, smiling, remembering that specific day, nearly a week ago.

_Flashback_

"_It's official, this day totally sucks," I stated, as I sat with Taylor and Kelsi._

"_Why?" Kelsi quizzed._

"_Ellie, or should I say El, is giving me hell about shoes, apparently she needs new ones." I replied._

"_What's that got to do with you?" Taylor asked._

"_I have no idea," I admitted as I glanced over towards the girl that used to be my cousin._

"_ATTENTION EVERYONE," Chad suddenly shouted over the noise of the cafeteria, when everything had died down he spoke again, this time almost directly to me, "Troy, better known as our team captain, would like to say a few words."_

_I watched as Troy stood up, also watching me, what was he up to? I looked over at my cousin, and just for a few seconds saw the old Ellie shine through, she was smiling at me, telling me she knew what was going on, but her demeanour changed back to El quickly, so I turned back to Troy._

"_Mistakes are things we all make," He spoke, "most of the time they are unavoidable, but roughly five weeks ago, I made a mistake that I could have easily avoided, now I have to make it right."_

_He walked towards me, stopping when he reached me; I stood so I wasn't looking up at him._

"_I'm sorry," he said, meeting my gaze, "I never meant to hurt you, if I could take it all back, I would, I was a jerk, I was wrong, can you forgive me?"_

_He held up a gold heart-shaped locked and I sighed, taking it from him._

"_Open it, it's more than a present," He whispered._

_I looked at him, confused, but opened the locket._

_On the inside was a picture of the pair of us, I smiled at the look on my happy face, but I still didn't understand what was so special about it._

"_Look again," He smiled when I looked up._

_I looked down at the locket again, and noticed the inscription, It said In clear italics on the face opposite the picture, __G.M, keeper of my heart_

_I looked back up at him, "You really mean that?_

"_More than anything." He answered._

"_Then I can forgive you," I grinned, "but if you mess up this time, there'll be no going back."_

"_I'm not planning on messing up again." He reassured me, smiling like he hadn't smiled in weeks, I looked over to where my cousin had been, but she was gone, and I had no idea how much of this she'd seen._

_End Flashback_

"You know, I didn't think it would work." He told me.

"Why not?" I asked him, "You nearly humiliated yourself in front of the entire school for me."

"I didn't know how you'd take the necklace," He admitted, "but for you I'd do it all again."

I started fiddling with the locket that had been hanging around my neck since he'd given it to me.

"Besides the Ellie stuff, is anything else bothering you?" He asked.

"Not really," I said truthfully.

"The why do you keep fiddling with the locket, you only fiddle with things when your nervous," He pointed out.

"I don't know," I answered, "I guess it just feels so right that it's there, and it's what I'm doing instead of pinching myself to make sure this is real."

"Well, I guess it's less painful than pinching," He replied.

"You really think she's waiting for me to tell her everything?" I asked, randomly changing the subject.

"I can't be sure," He told me, "but you asked for her to tell you the truth, so tell her the truth, let her know she can trust you."

"She knows she can trust me, it's that Angela woman that changed her, and dad isn't helping, he's making her worse, he's saying how great it is that she seems to have dropped the attitude now she's seen Angela, he congratulated her because she's being someone he likes, but that isn't who she is." I complained.

"Eventually she'll be her, sooner or later she'll get tired of the whole El personality, everything is going to be ok." He tried assuring me.

"You don't know that." I sighed.

"Yes I do," He answered, "because her being like this makes you unhappy, so I'm going to sort it out, because I hate it when your not happy."

* * *

**Some fluff and drama rolled into one, and strangely it was easy to write, which is weird considering 2 days ago i didn't even know how to start it.**


	17. Truth

"Come in," I said as there was a knock on my bedroom door.

My cousin slipped in and closed the door behind her as she said, "Your dad is totally out of control."

"Then why didn't you go to your room?" I asked.

"It's not a bad out of control Gab, he keeps asking if I want ice-cream or cookies or something like that." She answered.

"Then what's the problem?" I questioned, fully aware that I was being a little harsh towards her.

"I'm not the one with the problem Gab, first you tell me that I can tell you anything, that I can trust you, then you turn into someone completely different, you seriously need to improve your attitude." She snapped back, finally realising my tone.

"I've turned into someone different," I exclaimed, "Look in the mirror, I don't know who you are anymore, it's like Angela changed you or something, I don't know how to deal with you anymore."

"I'm just being me," She defended.

"On your first day at East High you told me you didn't want to be part of a clique, but that's exactly what your doing, you are not being you." I stated, knowing this argument was needed.

"How would you know, you only ever saw me twice a year before Mom and Brent died, you know nothing about my life before I came here." She half-shouted.

"I know because Brent told me, we e-mailed eachother daily, because nobody else in this family bothered to keep in contact except for the annual family gathering, he told me who you really were, and this is not you." I answered.

"Why can't you just be happy for me, I have friends, a possible boyfriend and Uncle Max finally likes me, but that's not good enough for you." She hissed.

"I'll be happy for you when you go back to being yourself, until you do that I'm sorry but I can't deal with you," I told her truthfully, "So tell me when Ellie comes back, because there's a few things I want to tell her."

"Tell me then." The girl replied.

"I said Ellie, not El." I pointed out as I went back to reading the book that was lying on my bed.

My cousin stood almost immobilised by the door for a few moments, then left without another word to me, I was surprised she hadn't retaliated to that, maybe she's finally seen my point.

I picked up my cell and dialled Troys number.

"Hey," He spoke as he picked up.

"I talked to her," I told him, "I didn't tell her though."

"She still being this El kid?" He asked.

"Yeah," I confirmed, "She went off on me for not being happy for her because apparently her life is perfect now, but how can I be happy for her when she's not being herself?"

"Stop beating yourself up over this." He ordered softly, "this is not your fault, and she'll come round and then you can tell her."

"What if she doesn't?" I questioned.

"We have to believe that she will." He answered as I heard his dad shout in the background.

"You have to go, right," I said, already knowing he was going to say what I didn't really want to hear.

"Are you going to be ok?" He quizzed, clearly worried.

"I'll be fine," I tried unsurely, knowing it probably wouldn't convince him.

"Can you at least try and make it believable?" He asked.

"I'll be fine." I repeated in a stronger voice.

"Much better," He told me, "I still don't believe you though, do you want me to come over?"

"Troy, your dad won't let you," I pointed out.

"I've sneaked out before I can sneak out again," He stated, "If you need me I'll be there."

"It's ok," I sighed, not wanting him to get in trouble with his parents for me, "You don't have to, I'll see you tomorrow."

"You promise?" He quizzed.

"No Troy, I'm going to avoid you like the plague tomorrow," I sighed sarcastically, and then added seriously, "Of course I promise."

"Ok, I haven't even hung up and I miss you, are you sure you don't need me to come over?" He continued trying.

"I'm sure," I answered.

"You were meant to say you made a mistake and you want me there as soon as possible." He told me.

"Yeah, but that's what you want me to say," I pointed out, "I decided to be truthful rather than say what you want me to."

"Yeah, truth is good," He agreed, and continued as his dad called again "do I really have to hang up?"

"Yes, because I don't want your dad to kill you." I joked.

"Ok, ok, bye baby." He answered sounding resigned.

"Bye," I replied as I hung up the phone.

He always had this way of making me feel better, even if I can't see him, just talking to him is enough, and the thought of seeing him tomorrow helps, it's like he keeps me calm.

* * *

**Review people, i've decided i want atleast three reviews with every chapter of every story i write before i put another one up.**


	18. Secrets and Confrontations

The faded pictures never used to stand out, but now as I go though my photo album I notice them more than any of the other snapshots.

I've been looking at them a lot recently, trying to understand why my cousin would suddenly change so dramatically after a visit from one person, but it's hard to draw any conclusion from pictures.

It's amazing how happy my family used to be, Brent and Tyler always had their squabbles, but we were ecstatic overall, I don't even remember why all that changed.

"Your quiet this morning Gabi," Mom pointed out, making me look up from the pictures, "What's that?" She asked when she noticed that she had my attention.

I twirled the photo album around so she could see the pictures from the other side of the table.

"I remember that day," She exclaimed when she saw the top picture, "It was when Helen brought the kids to stay for a while, just after your uncle Mark died, they seemed to forget their dad was gone while they were here."

"I don't think they did," I spoke up, glad that it was only the two of us in the room, "They may have seemed happier but I don't think they'd forgot."

"It was good to see them smile," Mom replied, "They were so miserable when they arrived."

"And now there's only one of them left," I sighed, "but it doesn't even feel like there's that anymore."

"What do you mean?" My mom questioned, playing the concerned parent like always, why does dad never do that?

"Ellie's turned into this whole new person," I began.

"So I've seen," Mom interrupted.

"She's not her any more, I don't know who she is now, I don't like who she is now, I miss her mom, I miss who she really is," I finished.

"I know you do, I do too in most ways, but she'll come back, she's a Montez, a true Montez never gives up who they really are," Mom reassured, "Just because your dad likes this new her, doesn't mean she does."

"You really think she'll come round?" I asked sceptically.

"I know she will," Mom answered, "Now get to school, Ellie's already gone and you don't want to be late."

I smiled and ran out of the door, grabbing my bag as I went.

* * *

I was humming as I walked into homeroom, Troy was facing the opposite end of the room and hadn't seen me, and I decided to use it to my advantage.

I crept up behind him and was about to let him know I was there until I noticed he and Chad were talking about me, and that neither and yet seen me.

"Are you sure Gabriella will be ok with this?" Chad was asking.

"She'll love it, but she doesn't have to know yet." Troy answered his friend's question. What didn't I have to know?

"She'll find out, you know she will, you have to tell her before someone else does," I heard Chad try.

"Who's gonna tell her, you won't, I know you to well, I sure won't, and she's not even speaking to Ellie right now," Troy replied.

"They will eventually talk, Gabi and Ellie have no secrets, she'll find out," Chad continued to try, I was surprised neither of them had yet noticed me, " I'm talking to you as a friend helping a friend, tell her."

"It's a surprise," Troy defended as I decided to make my presence known and questioned, "What's a surprise?"

"Apart from your sudden appearances?" Chad asked, suddenly turning around.

Troy stood staring at me for a few moments before I finally asked, "What?"

"Your pretty," He cooed, smiling at me.

"You're hiding something," I pointed out, "What happened to truth is good?"

"Truth is still good, but surprises are better," He grinned, "especially surprises like this."

"I hate surprises," I tried arguing.

"No you don't, you love surprises, you always have," He said, showing how much he really did know me, "and don't even think about pouting, if you start I'm going to look away, no matter how much it hurts me to."

"No fair," I sulked, looking over to Chad, "You'll tell me, won't you?"

I saw a grin form on his face as he said, "Not a chance, this is between you and Troy, I'm not getting involved."

"Please," I asked in my sweetest voice.

"Well…" Chad began but stopped when he saw the look Troy gave him, "You'll have to ask your boyfriend that."

Chad walked away from us and straight over to Taylor, I turned my glare on Troy, "Spill,"

"Can't do that, confidential, I don't want to have to kill you," He joked.

"Troy," I complained.

"Gabi," He grinned.

"This isn't funny," I huffed.

"Your cute when your mad," He decided.

"Does it involve Ellie?" I quizzed, hoping to get a straight answer.

"I can honestly say, with one hundred percent certainty, that this definitely does or doesn't involve Ellie," He replied.

"That makes no sense," I informed him.

"Wasn't meant to," He admitted, still grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm not talking to you," I informed him as a spun round and faced the other way.

He snaked his arms around my waist and whispered in my ear, "if your not talking to me then I can do this without you objecting," and started kissing me.

"Whoa, PDA," I heard someone shout from the doorway and looked up to see the figure of my cousin standing there.

"Damn it, your cousin's objecting for you," Troy joked as he looked up at her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her when she fixed her eyes on me.

"I need to talk to you," Ellie answered, still looking at me.

"Gab or Brie?" I questioned harshly, testing her in a way.

"Does it matter, your both of them," She exclaimed as I broke free from Troy's grasp and walked towards her.

"Yes, it matters," I retorted, "Because I'm not Gab, she's someone you want me to be because she goes with your new persona."

"Whatever," She replied in full El fashion, "Just come out here."

I followed her into the hall, knowing that if I didn't I'd be as bad as her.

"What is it?" I questioned, looking both ways to see if Ms. Darbus was approaching.

"I get it," She stated, "What you said last night, I get it, and I just wanted you to know, but I can't be who you want me to be anymore, that girl lost everything, being who I am now helps me forget that."

"Why wait till Angela came then?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"It wasn't Angela, it was you, you were defending me, and I realised I'd never really done that myself, I needed to start defending myself, I needed to reinvent myself so I could be self-defensive," She admitted, almost fooling me that this was Ellie speaking.

"Is being someone else really what you want?" I quizzed, "because I don't think it is, frankly it scares me that someone could change so much in two weeks."

"I haven't changed Gab, I'm still me on the inside, I'm just stronger," She defended.

"That may be how you see it," I shot back, "but for me and mom it's more than that, you're not the person we knew, and it's more than just being emotionally stronger, it's all that you've created El to be, on the inside and out,"

"I'm not the only one that's changed Gab, the old you would have told me about the whole Troy thing immediately, but no, I have to hear it off of Lana, one of my friends knew before me, do you know how much that hurt? Do you even care? You didn't say anything, you should have, you've had plenty of opportunity, but it's like you didn't want me to know, I left that cafeteria for you aswell, who wants their cousin hanging around when they're trying to sort out their love life, that's why I left, but you didn't even have the decency to tell me what happened." She lectured.

"I didn't want to tell El, I wanted to tell Ellie, and as long as you're being someone you're not there is going to be a lot of things that I want to tell you but can't tell you, I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't." I explained.

The bell went off and my cousin gave me one last glance and walked off, I slowly went back into homeroom, walking right into Troy's waiting arms, he'd obviously heard the majority of the conversation.

"She knows then," He sighed, keeping his arms around me.

"Yes," I whispered, "I really didn't want her to find out like that."

"I know you didn't," He answered.

"I'm such a horrible person," I told him, thinking of nothing but Ellie's look of hurt.

"No you're not, you had no choice, you had to show her," He reassured, "None of this is your fault."

"I just feel like I should have done more to help her, she trusted me and I let her down big time." I told him.

"You did your best," He explained softly.

"It wasn't enough," I pointed out, "I don't know what to do, I don't know how to sort this out."

"Then don't, you can't do everything, leave it up to her now," He replied, "Everything's going to be ok."

"You don't know that," I answered sadly.

"Yes I do," He decided, "I do know everything after all."

"Ego maniac," I giggled at his remark as I looked up at him.

"You love it really," He grinned, "We both know you do."

"Wouldn't have it any other way," I agreed as I walked away from him and to my desk and mumbled, "I just wish home was as perfect."

* * *

**Sorry that took so long, i wanted it to be just right, and i've been working on a couple of oneshots that should be up sometime in the next two months, i'm also halfway through writing Can you forgive? I'm on a roll with that, i have quite a few chapters written that aren't up yet, i might put one up tonight if i manage to get another one written.**


	19. Past Pain

"You two are quiet," Dad decided to, as Tyler would say, state the flippin obvious.

I looked up at him, knowing he'd have further reason to complain if I didn't; we hadn't had a proper conversation since before Angela came.

"Nothing to say," I muttered, loud enough for the two others in the room to hear.

"Makes a change," He snapped back, then went soft as he addressed my cousin, "How about you, El?"

"Gab is being such a drama queen," My cousin told him, "So I've decided not to talk to her."

"A wise choice," he smiled at her, then turned back to me, "change your attitude Gabriella, I don't like this new you."

"And I don't like the new you," I informed him and stood up, "I'm going out."

I had been planning on going out anyway, I just hadn't told him; he probably wouldn't have cared anyway.

I whipped my cell out and continued walking towards the park, dialling Troy's number.

"Hey," He answered as he picked up almost immediately.

"Will you come and meet me and Tay at the park?" I asked, "Like, now."

"Be there in a few," He replied.

"You have to hang up now," I pointed out, before hanging up myself and walking through the gates and over to Taylor, who had already arrived.

"Who was that?" She asked when I reached her.

"Troy," I admitted, "He's coming to meet us."

"So's Chad," She answered, "He insisted, apparently we need protection."

"Typical Chad," I giggled.

"What's typical me?" I heard him ask from behind me.

"Making excuses to come to the park and play basketball," I grinned as I turned around.

"It's not an excuse, you do need protection, it's a very dangerous place, people like…" He began, then started muttering, "Think of a good example," to himself repeatedly, we watched his face light up as he suddenly announce, "People like Troy hanging around."

"Hey!" I complained, hitting him on the arm as Taylor laughed.

"Ow," Chad started rubbing the spot where I had hit him, "Maybe you guys don't need protection after all."

"No kidding," I replied, "Tay, you can stop laughing now," I pointed out as she continued giggling hysterically.

After five minutes Taylor managed to regulate her breathing after the laughing fit, "Sorry but the thing about Troy was just funny, I think Chad has a point there," She excused.

"Speaking of Troy," Chad said as he gestured behind us.

We turned to see Troy approaching with a blonde girl.

"Who's that?" Taylor directed and both me and Chad.

"No idea," We both said in unison as they reached us.

"Hey," He greeted as he pulled me towards him.

"Hi," I answered, noting that he didn't immediately introduce me to the girl.

The girl herself was smiling around the small group, "So your Troy's friends," She announced after a few moments.

"No, we're his staff, he often meets us at the park," Taylor smiled sarcastically; she always had hated people stating the obvious.

The girl momentarily looked confused, but decided to drop it and introduce herself, "I'm Jessica, Jessica Bolton, Troy's my cousin, a bit of a moron isn't he."

"Do you mind not insulting me in front of my girlfriend?" Troy asked her.

"I wouldn't have had to if you'd introduced me, but seeing as it completely slipped your mind, proving your moronic state, I had to, for your own good." Jessica stated, smiling at me, reminding me of someone I'd rather forget.

Troy sighed and began speaking as I looked up at him, "Jess, you know Chad, you met him when we were five," Jessica rolled her eyes at his comment, but he ignored it and continued, "Chad's girlfriend Taylor and my girlfriend Gabriella, both of them are smarter than you'll ever be,"

"So now you're insulting me?" She quizzed in annoyance.

"You started it," He pointed out as I felt Jessica's gaze burning into me, "It's true anyway."

I stayed quiet, I knew this girl from somewhere, I was sure of it, and something about her made me feel uneasy, made me feel how I hadn't felt in years.

"… right, Gabi?" I heard Troy ask, snapping be out of my thoughts, "Gabi, you still with us?" He repeated when I didn't answer.

"Oh, sorry, I kinda zoned out there," I rushed in reply.

"Obviously," He tried laughing it off, but too me the worry was evident in his voice.

"Do you get nervous around new people?" Jessica asked me, altering her tone to tell me that she knew exactly who I was, that she was who I thought she was, that she was the one who had caused the memories to come flooding back.

_Flashback _

_"_That's_ crazy Gabi," Jessica laughed as I told her about another of my brother's practical jokes, "Did Tyler really do that?"_

_"It's an everyday occurrence when it comes to Tyler, sometimes it's completely random, but I think it's mostly planned," I explained._

_"It must be a nuthouse with him there," She suggested,_

_"It's, interesting," I admitted, "He's annoying sometimes,"_

_End Flashback_

Being so young and naïve at eleven, I'd thought we'd be best friends forever, only weeks later, everything changed.

_Flashback_

_"Jessica, where were you yesterday, you were meant to come over," I exclaimed as I reached my friend._

_"What does the nerd want, Jess?" An unfamiliar girl asked as she also approached._

_"No idea, she just started talking to me," Jessica answered her._

_The other girl nodded and pushed her way past Jessica, "People like you don't speak to people like us, got that?"_

_I looked at Jessica unsurely, not really understanding this sudden change, she just turned and walked away without another glance._

_End flashback_

I hadn't spoken to her since, and I didn't want to now.

"I have to go," I announced, and pulled out of Troy's grip, I started walking away, stopping after a few metres as I sensed him following me.

"What's wrong?" He asked when he caught up.

"Nothing," I lied.

"I know that's not true," He argued, "its Ellie again, isn't it?"

He hadn't noticed the effect his cousin had caused, he still thought that my cousin was the extent of my problems, Jessica was much worse, Ellie I could handle, but this.

"Yeah," I continued lying, "She really hates me."

"No she doesn't, and besides, if she does, why do you want to go back there?" He quizzed.

"I have to deal with them all," I sighed to try and make my story more believable, "Dad hates me too."

"Now you know that's not true," He told me, reading my mind as I glanced back nervously to meet Jessica's eyes.

I shrugged and continued walking, not wanting to be in her line of vision. He grabbed hold of my hand and started dragging me back to the group, "You need to relax, so I'm going to force you to," He explained as I struggled against his grip.

"But I can't," I accidentally exclaimed.

He stopped and turned round, gazing into my eyes, "Explain," He encouraged, although it was more an order than a request.

I shook my head as I felt tears appear in my eyes, tears that he obviously also noticed going by the quick change in his attitude, "It's ok, you don't have to," He whispered softly as he hugged me, "You only have to tell me if you want to."

I smiled weakly and pulled away, "I really have to go,"


	20. Not strong enough

**Just thought you'd like to know I SUPPORT THE WGA STRIKE, it may mean no new episodes of Greys Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer etc being filmed (Obviously, I don't own any of the shows) but in the long run it's worth it if it stops the hard work of the actors, writers, producers, directors etc. being exploited, people, they GA cast are joining the strike on their lunch break, and when they finish filming the last episode they can do (no script for another one, they're on contract so they have to continue filming as long as possible) they are joining it full time, GO THEM!!!!**

* * *

I slammed the door behind me as I ran into my house, knowing it would earn me a lecture from my dad, but not really caring. 

"GABRIELLA, WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU AB…" He began, stopping when he saw me, "What happened?"

"As if you care," I snapped back and ran upstairs, knowing I was probably being a little harsh, this wasn't his fault, but he'd been treating my like shit for weeks, I need to take something out on him.

I slammed my bedroom door behind me and lay with my face in my pillow, trying to muffle my sobs, the last thing I wanted to do was worry my mom, she was probably the last person I had on my side right now.

It took a few minutes for someone to come and ask what was up, and even then it was neither of my parents, Ellie slipped into the room quietly and sat down and began speaking, "This is me being Ellie, for now, El has gone, and whenever you want to talk, I'm here, as Ellie."

I looked up at her, unsure as to what I should say, how much I should say, trying to figure out if she was for real, "Brie, please, talk to me," She continued, showing that she was, at least for now, Ellie, the questioning look told me all I needed to know, and I knew she wouldn't drop it.

"You were there for me when I needed you, now I have to return the favour," She pointed out, not giving up.

I shook my head, knowing I couldn't tell her, I didn't want her to know about Jessica, she didn't know the girl existed, and I wanted it to stay that way, I couldn't let her get hurt anymore than she already had.

"It's better not to think about it, you told me that, remember, but I don't think it's true, I think it's better to talk about it, so, talk, I'm not going anywhere, I'm here no matter what." She pointed out.

"The best way you can be here is to not get involved," I told her, hoping she'd understand.

"You know where to find me if you want to talk about it," She replied and stood up, making her way towards the door, "Trust me, it really does help."

She left the room, I sat there letting silent tears fall long into the night, not really knowing how I'd deal with the concept of school tomorrow, how was I going to explain my disappearing act to my friends, I wanted them to understand, but Jessica is Troy's cousin, that alone complicates everything, if I'd have known before she turned up I could have told him, but it's too late now, there's nothing I can do.

* * *

The following morning I walked into the kitchen to no one but my dad, Ellie was up, her bedroom door had been wide open when I'd walked past and she wasn't there, but she wasn't down here. 

"I sent her to school early," Dad told me as he noticed my glances, "We need to talk."

I sat down opposite him, thinking this would be about something as trivial as slamming doors.

"Last night…" He began, "Something happened when you were out, I can tell it upset you, what was it?"

Great, so I finally get one of my wishes, dad playing the concerned parent, but why did he have to get concerned over this.

I shook my head, not really wanting to elaborate.

"I'll make a rough guess," He continued, and then shocked me, "Jessica Bolton?"

I nodded before speaking, "How did you know?"

"Troy called last night, wanted to speak to you, I told him that you'd locked yourself in your room, he told me what happened, that he thinks it was Ellie, he said you were weird when he and his cousin Jessica arrived," Dad explained, "Don't worry, I didn't tell him, I just put two and two together, and, I'm guessing, made four."

I nodded again, not really feeling like speaking, he broke the silence, "You can deal with her you know, what she did to you was nasty, plain spiteful, but it was years ago, it's in the past, and now she's in your life again, you are strong enough to handle this, I know you are."

"What if I'm not?" I quizzed.

"Because I know you, trust me, you are," He reassured.

* * *

I walked through East High quickly, not wanting to deal with my friends so early in the morning, but Taylor was already waiting at my locker when I got there. 

"What happened yesterday?" She demanded as I reached her, and this time, I decided not to put it off, if I couldn't tell her, who could I tell?

"Troy's cousin," I began, as she interrupted, "Thought so, what about her?" I continued as soon as she finished, "We used to be best friends, years ago, our friendship ended badly when we were eleven, I didn't want it to it just did," I explained, telling her what had happened, everything that had been said, and Ellie was right, it had made me feel better.

"I knew there was something off with her," Taylor told me when I finished, "It was the way she was looking at you, like you were dirt or something."

"Yeah, I noticed," I admitted, "She's why I left, I couldn't hang around with her there."

"If it's any consolation, Troy was literally freaking out about you when you left, he kept saying he'd been a bit harsh and he needed to make it right," My friend told me.

"He doesn't know," I informed her, "And you can't tell him, he'd never choose me over her, he's related to her,"

"He may be related to her Gabi, but he loves you, you told me you believe that so you have to believe it now, you have to believe he won't leave you." Taylor pointed out, "Oh, and I should tell you, Jessica's sticking around, she's been transferred here."

"Damn it," I whispered loud enough for just the two of us to hear.

"Cheer up," Taylor suggested, "Chad and Troy are coming," he face automatically dropped as I turned around, Jessica was following right behind them.

"Gabi, breathe," Taylor demanded, I hadn't even known I was holding my breath, I began to panic when I realised I had lost all control of my breathing, the last thing I remember as I blacked out was Troy's concerned look as he caught me.

* * *

I woke up to the sound of bleeping machines, but I felt too tired to even consider looking around, I started wiggling my fingers, trying to figure out where I was. 

I automatically felt a hand on mine, and looked up to see Troy gazing down at me.

"It's ok, don't freak out, you're in the hospital," He explained calmly, then started ranting himself, "When you fell, I thought I'd lost you, why did you stop breathing, everybody knows you can't hold your breath for that long, please, don't ever do that again."

I looked up at him, and nodded as best as I could, wanting nothing more than to curl up and go to sleep, I was so tired, but something was urging me to stay awake, jolting me into self-protective mode, I pulled my hand out from under his, instantly worrying him.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's me, it's ok, don't be scared," He soothed, I didn't really want to tell him that it wasn't him I was scared of, but I blamed him for it, I blamed him for bringing her here, I blamed him for letting her near me, I blamed him for not telling me she was here as soon as I woke up. I watched as the door opened and my dad came in, Troy immediately backed off, it was obvious by my father's posture that he blamed my boyfriend for this, he didn't know I hadn't told Troy yet.

"Hey, sweetie, how're you feeling?" He asked as he reached the bed.

"I have a headache," I told him, making him smile as he chuckled, "Same here,"

"What happened?" I decided to ask, although I remembered clearly what had happened, the constricting feeling when I had realised I couldn't breathe, the fear, the panic, the feeling that I was alone, it wasn't that I wanted to know, it was the things that had happened since then that I cared about.

"You passed out," He told me what I already knew, "The doctors said you were stressed, that your blood pressure was sky high,"

I nodded as I felt another presence at the door, why couldn't everyone just leave me alone?

"Thank god your awake," My cousin cried as she ran over, "That must have been some serious bump on the head, you were out of it for like, 32 hours."

I glanced over at Troy, I clearly remember him catching me before I hit the floor, What had happened?

"Oh he caught you all right," Ellie told me, "You hit your head on the lockers, which I guess is better than the floor but not much."

"I sent your mom home," Dad told me, "She needed to rest, she was worried sick, and that worry tired her."

"Am I gonna be ok?" I asked, turning my attention back to my father.

"You should be," Dad evaded, "They want to run more tests, to know what caused this, but we both know what caused this don't we?"

I nodded, turning to look at Ellie, the only one who wasn't involved in any way, she smiled reassuringly as dad said something about getting her home and the two of them left.

Troy came back over to the bed with a questioning look on his face; I shook my head, trying to get him to drop it.

"You are going to tell me what happened whether you like it or not," He suddenly demanded, dripping hostility, "You could have died, I want an explanation."

I shook my head again, trying not to let him see the fear and disappointment I was feeling, I'd only ever seen this side of Troy once before, and I'd hated it then and I still hated it now.

"What the hell happened back at school?" He ordered, just as threateningly, deep down I knew he was only angry because he was worried, but I didn't think that was a viable excuse for him to talk to me like that, I was about to ask him to go when she appeared in the door, I automatically moved as far away from her as I could, which meant further away from Troy, he instinctively looked behind him when he saw me move back, when he followed my gaze, "Hey, Jess," He greeted her as he looked back at me, noticing the pain in my eyes for the first time as he watched me stare at his cousin, after a few moments he turned back to her, asking her an incredibly simple question, one I knew she wouldn't answer, "What did you do?"

* * *

**Pretty intense i guess, i thought this story needed something intense, i think it was getting a bit boring, seriously though, review, this chapter took me ages.**


	21. Headaches

Jessica stared back at him blankly as he repeated his question, the urge to sleep was quickly taking over me now, but the fear was keeping me awake, as yet more memories from my childhood came flooding back.

_Flashback _

_"Watch it," I heard the familiar voice of Jessica Bolton demand as she slammed into my shoulder, it had obviously been on purpose, she seemed to look for things to blame me for nowadays._

_Ignoring her wasn't working, she was going out of her way to find ways of getting to me, I hadn't said a word to her in two years, ever since she ditched me for popularity, but she still spoke to me, her snide comments were a regular thing now, something I was used to._

_"Why the hell are you so rude?" She asked, I turned and gave her a blank stare as she continued, "You could at least apologise for getting in the way, or do nerds like you take a vow of silence as soon as you hit twelve?"_

_I just stood, staring at her, I'd stopped caring about her comments long ago, when I figured out who she truly was inside, "Freak," She exclaimed and turned, walking away, she did this a lot now, I never said anything, she always backed off._

_End Flashback_

I began glancing from one to the other, not knowing what was going to happen was getting to me, I watched as a doctor pushed past Jessica and towards the bed, concentrating on the notes in his hand, when he finally looked at me his facial expression changed, he wasn't happy.

"How long has she been awake?" He directed at Troy.

"About fifteen minutes," He replied, turning towards him.

"And you didn't think to come and find me, this is a hospital, not a playground, I don't have time for teenagers to come and mess things up, I have the lives of others in my hands." The doctor pointed out as Troy once again backed away a little.

He turned to me and started speaking what seemed to be a mile a minute, "Any dizziness, headaches, any pain, anywhere at all, it's important that you tell me, you never know what could help."

"She said she had a headache earlier," Troy told him, earning a glare from the doctor.

"Miss Montez needs her rest," He announced looking pointedly from Troy to Jessica, "Visiting hours are over, its family only after fix thirty."

"You haven't minded before," Jessica spoke up from the doorway.

"That's before you risked a patients life by not managing to do the simplest of tasks and not telling me she was awake," He replied.

"Could the delay really have done much damage?" Troy questioned, sceptically.

"That is not the point, she is a patient at this hospital and therefore needs to be treated like one by visitors aswell as staff, you didn't know that time wouldn't have much effect, and that is why you should have told me immediately," Came the doctor's answer, "Were you here when she woke up?"

Troy nodded, not wanting to annoy the doctor more with speech.

"Has she displayed any behaviour that you consider strange in any way?" He was quizzed.

"She was a bit edgy," He replied, "She's normally quite mellow."

"That's to be expected," He was told as the conversation started to annoy me.

"I am here you know," I pointed out; almost forgetting that Jessica was in the room.

"Like anyone could forget you, taking up space," The girl spoke up, it was clearly a joke but Troy gave her a glance that would have put her in an early grave if looks could kill, this was far from over, he'd make me tell him everything, of course he'd go to Ellie and Taylor first, but coming to me wouldn't be that far down on the list.

I decided to ignore Jessica's comment and concentrated on the doctor's nametag, I started reading the name, letter by letter.

Dr. Simon Lewsing… 

I was asleep before I even finished the name.

* * *

**I know its short, but so is life (lol), it's meant to be short, the next chapter totally wouldn't work if this chapter was longer, and believe me, that chapter will be longer, looking forward to reading reviews, more for my other story than this one because that chapter was intense, remember the whole 3 review thing, i don't update unless i have 3 for each chapter.**


	22. Alone in the world

**You are so gonna hate me for this, not only because it's so short, but because I'm being so cruel I know, your just going to have to trust me when it comes to the next few chapters.**

* * *

"Troy, I have to tell you something," I told him as I caught up with him in the hallways of East High. 

"What's on your mind?" He asked, turning to me.

"You promise I can tell you anything?" I quizzed, "That I can tell you anything and you won't hate me for it."

"I promise," He told me, "Now spit it out."

I stared anxiously at him for a few seconds.

"Come on Gabi, talk, your making me nervous," He complained.

"You know when you figured out that Jessica being around upset me?" I asked.

"Yeah," He confirmed, prompting me to go on.

"Well, it's because we used to be friends, and she ditched me to be popular, she got mean after that, I found it hard to cope with, and now she's here, and I can't avoid her because she's related to you, she's the reason I was stressed, I didn't know if I should tell you or not," I rushed.

He paused, not responding, "Say something," I pleaded, making him turn to me, I immediately noticed the coldness in his eyes.

"Why would you tell me that?" He asked above the noise erupting in the hallway, "Why would you lie like that?"

"I'm not lying," I pleaded, "You have to believe me, you promised,"

"No, I don't have to do anything," He shot back, "Not anymore, we're through,"

He started walking away but turned back, "She's my cousin, Gabriella, you don't even know her, how could you hate her so much?"

"I'm not lying," I repeated, trying to get him to believe me, "You believed me in the hospital, you asked her what she'd done, but now you don't."

"No, I don't, because Jess isn't like that, she never has been and she never will be, I just didn't know that you were the sort of girl that spread lies about people, it's nasty, you need to cut the crap before you lose everything," He snapped as he left.

Taylor ran to me from down the hall, "He'll see one day," She tried to reassure me to no avail.

"He hates me," I cried, "Everybody hates me, this is all my fault, Ellie's family, Jess, Tyler's ignorance, it's all my fault."

"It's not your fault," She argued, "And I don't hate you, Sharpay and Kelsi don't hate you, Ellie and your parent's don't hate you."

"But Troy does, everyone will, Ellie's right, nobody stays," I pointed out.

"Troy will come round, everything will be fine, I'll make sure of it, you'll see, everything will turn out just great," She tried.

"NO IT WON'T, I WISH I'D DIED IN THE HOSPITAL, THE WORLD WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT ME ANYWAY, NOBODY NEEDS ME SCREWING UP THEIR LIVES ANYMORE," I screamed, causing everyone to look at me.

"Don't say that Gabi, please don't say that, I need you," She told me, "You're the one person I can tell anything to without worrying about being judged, please, calm down, please."

I stared her blankly in the eyes, looking for any signs of deceiving, there were none, so why didn't I believe her?

"Gabi, don't look at me like that," She begged.

"Like what?" I replied, somewhat coldly.

"Gabi, your not yourself right now, but I promise you, everything will be ok," She reassured.

"Yeah, Tay, everything will be fine, fine when she dies alone," I heard Troy remark from behind me.

"Definitely," Taylor agreed, shocking me, so I had been right not to believe her.

The two of the walked away, giving me sly grins as they did, the last thing I heard from my so-called friends mouth was three painful words, "Stupid little bitch."

"Don't leave me," I kept repeating to myself, quietly at first, but my volume progressed, no one came to help, no one cared, I truly was alone in the world.

**I know it's seriously short, but it wouldn't be right if it were longer than that, I actually thought it was longer than the last chapter, but, it's not. I'm ditzy, what's your excuse? REVIEW.**


	23. Home

**Ok, today was random, i kept telling David and AJ to get out of my aura, i think it was freaking them out, especially when i pointed out that to getn out of my aura they'd have to leave the planet, then i changed it to personal space, and in drama, i had to yell, and it hurt my throat, and then the teacher made me run through it again, and then i could barely speak, but it was fine by lunch after that lesson, and i wouldn't shut up. And in english, my friend Emily and i had this random conversation that went as follwing.**

**Emily: Leanne, what's the time?**

**Me: ten past one.**

**Emily: Leanne, What's the time?**

**Me: twelve past one.**

**Emily: Leanne, show me your watch so i can count down the minutes.**

**Me: Why?**

**Emily: Because i want to.**

**Me: Okaayyyy then.**

**(20 minutes later, just after the bell)**

**Emily: Leanne, what's the time?**

**Me: Nap time.**

**Ok, enough about my random conversations with Emily, onto the story.**

* * *

I ran down the corridor willing myself to reach the end, I could hear the booming sound of my family's laughter the other side of the door at the very end of the corridor, but no matter how far I ran I didn't seem to get any closer, it was like the door was running from me, and taking my family with it.

I tried opening the doors on either side of me, all were locked, I was trapped, I had to go on, I continued running towards the end door, it still didn't get closer.

"Come on Brie, you can make it," I heard the optimistic voice of my cousin as she appeared in front of me, reaching her hand out, she seemed close enough to touch, but I couldn't reach her, and almost as suddenly as she had came, she disappeared, whizzing through the door I knew I would never reach, panic overtook me as the door vanished, everything was gone, and all I could bring myself to do was murmur, "Come back,"

I sat up with a start, crying, immediately feeling arms wrap around me, it took me a while to realise I was still muttering the words, "Come back," through my tears.

"Hey hey hey, I didn't go anywhere," I heard Troy whisper in my ear, "It's ok, I'm still here, I'm not going anywhere, it was just a dream."

"Just a dream," I repeated his words for myself, "But it felt so real."

"Tell me about it," He suggested, "Then I can tell you how stupid it was."

I began telling him everything I remembered from the dream, from how he and Taylor treated me, to the never ending corridor, the only thing I missed out was the parts about Jessica, I couldn't tell him, I just couldn't. He kept his arms around me the whole time, I knew I was shaking, which was obviously worrying him more.

"Told you it was stupid," He pointed out when I finished, "None of that would ever happen."

"You Promise?" I whispered in reply.

His grip around me tightened in reply, "Of course I do, I love you."

I smiled, melting into his embrace, my erratic breathing was finally returning to normal, I felt safe, like nothing could ever hurt me, then Jessica came to the door.

"Hey, you woke up," She smiled right at me, "Troy tried waking you when he realised you were having some kind of nightmare, but you almost winded him,"

I glared back at her, suddenly feeling the atmosphere turn into something you could cut with a knife.

I watched her, standing in the door until I saw Ellie push past her. My cousin looked at her in an almost resentful way before approaching me and announcing, "Your dad told me."

I nodded, knowing what she was referring to.

"What did he tell you?" Troy quizzed her, letting go of me and standing up.

"Nothing," I tried, not wanting him to find out at this moment.

"He'll find out you know," Ellie pointed out, as Jessica advanced into the room.

I gave my cousin a warning look, trying to stop her speaking, but Troy was intrigued now, "Find out what?"

"Not my place to say," Ellie grinned, sitting down and turning her attention to me, "Anyway, Doctor Lewsington said you can come home this afternoon, Taylor said she'll help you catch up with school work and…" She stopped, noticing my facial expression change when she mentioned Taylor.

"Just a dream Gab," Troy reminded me, telling me that he had noticed too.

"What happened in that nightmare thing anyway?" Jessica decided to question.

I looked up, glaring at her for a while before turning back to my cousin, "What time?"

"Four," She answered, "Uncle Max gave me the day off school, so cool, I would say you should get sick more often, but that would be evil."

"I can't wait to get back," I admitted to her, " The few hours I remember of being here was the most boring year of my life."

"You've been here since Wednesday Brie, it's now Friday, it's been more than a few hours, are you sure that's all you remember?" Ellie asked.

"Well you said I was out of it for 32 hours, I didn't wake up till last night, and I was asleep almost straight away, so yeah," I pointed out, "Weird that I'm so tired after all that sleep."

"You always were lazy," Jessica piped up from the door.

"How would you…" Troy began, then realization dawned, "Do you two know eachother?"

* * *

**Oooooooooo, minor cliffy, Only 2 people figured that out, which was weird because I thought it was so obvious, I also hate that chapter, the writing was just plain bad, but I'm going to leave it, because it fits with the story and I don't have time to rewrite it because of homework. The biggest clue was actually the last line of chapter 21.**


	24. Now you know

**Ok yesterday was randomly awesome, a 2 year old told me to shut up, good times, I also started the next in my series of oneshots, it was actually Kerry's idea, and it was a great idea, but of course, I started the idea, because it came from another one of my ideas. That should be up soon, we started it at lunch today so we should finish it by the weekend.**

* * *

**Answers to your questions:**

**No, Troy hasn't been told yet, he was told in the dream and reacted badly, Dr. Lewsington is Gabi's doctor, because she's in hospital, and hospitals are full of doctors (at least they are on Greys Anatomy.)**

* * *

I fixed my eyes on the wall opposite me, avoiding meeting anyone's eyes, I innately decided to let Jessica deal with this, after all, she had, in a way, caused it.

"One of you talk, now," Troy demanded.

"You're gonna stress Brie out, and you know what happened last time," I heard Ellie get suddenly defensive, "Forcing her to tell you something she clearly doesn't want to say is unfair."

"Jess?" I heard him ask, "Ellie's right, you tell me."

"No," I spoke, I hadn't planned to, I just did.

I could tell everyone in the room had turned to me, but I continued staring at the wall, "No," I repeated, I was more sure about this than I had ever been, "It's not important."

"Gabi, remember what we agreed, truth is good," He pointed out, "You know you can tell me anything."

I glanced at Jessica, I didn't want to tell him while she was around to twist it all, I shook my head slowly, without a word.

"Jess, can you wait outside?" I heard him ask, clearly noticing my glance.

Jessica gave me one last pleading glance in an attempt to change my mind, and I almost pitied her, but she'd done too much to me in the past for me to care now, and he wouldn't give up until he knew.

As soon as the door closed I looked over at Ellie, "How much do you know?"

"Everything your dad knew," She admitted.

"That'll be everything then, I used to tell him everything," I told her.

"And you're going to tell me everything, right?" I heard Troy question.

"Ellie can," I stated, he wanted to know, but I didn't want to say it, it made sense this way.

I listened as she explained everything to him, watched Troy's facial expression change as reality hit, he was still unreadable, but at least I knew Ellie believed it.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked somewhat sceptically when she finished.

I turned to my cousin, avoiding his gaze; he hadn't directed the question to either of us in particular but I could feel the doubt.

"This is exactly why she didn't want to tell you," Ellie snapped in reply.

"I'm sorry it's just, I've known Jess all my life, I didn't think she was like that," He apologised, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I shook it off, it wasn't good enough, he'd shown his doubt, he forced me to let him know, and then he doubted it, he doubted me.

"Gabi, don't be mad." He sighed, sitting on the side of the bed.

"She has a right to be," Ellie continued shooting words at him.

He ignored her, I could tell he was concentrating on me, but I kept my gaze on my cousin.

"When's dad getting here?" I asked her.

"I don't think he is, your mom brought me, she went to find your doctor to get an update, I actually think she annoys him, she was kind of stalking him around the hospital yesterday morning asking all these questions, it was kind of funny really, that was when she wasn't in here, or glaring at Jessica, that was funny too, I think Jessica's scared of her." My cousin rambled.

I let out a small laugh, Jessica had always been scared of my mom, I didn't understand it myself, nobody else was scared of my mom, she was probably the least-scary person anyone could meet, but ever since Jessica first met her when we were six, she'd been scared of her.

"I remember when we were nine, and my mom picked us up after school, and Jessica thought she was going to lock us in the car and leave us to die when she had to go to the shop, it was all she would talk about, I couldn't stop laughing, I never dropped that," I giggled.

"Hey, if you're just going to ignore me, can you tell me? I'd like to know?" Troy tried joking from behind me.

"That doesn't work," I pointed out, "If I was ignoring you I would have ignored you asking me if I was ignoring you so I wouldn't have told you."

"Where do you get things like that from?" Ellie asked.

"It's common sense" I stated, "Think about it."

I laughed as I noticed the pair of them actually were thinking about it.

The door opened again before either of them spoke again, we all turned out attention to it, I was half-expecting to see Jessica standing there, but it was my mom that stood smiling in the doorway.

"Is that why Jessica was scared of her?" Troy suddenly quizzed, making the three of us laugh, but confusing my mom.

"Why are you talking about Jessica's fears?" She asked, attempting to understand us.

"Boredom," I sighed.

"You'll be home in a few hours," Mom pointed out, coming over and starting her usual motherly fussing.

"What, your gonna let me get bored at home, exciting," I grinned sarcastically.

"Typical, you only came round last night and your already being as cheeky as possible," Mom smiled in reply.

"It's her job," Ellie decided, "Mine too in a way."

"Normally job's pay," Mom pointed out, "But I guess I do pay you to annoy me if your allowance's are included."

"I actually never thought about it like that," I admitted.

"Me neither, but it's so true," Ellie agreed

"Charming, aren't they?" Mom asked Troy.

"They are," He answered seriously, putting his arm around me, "They really are."

* * *

**I'm going to try and update both of my stories tomorrow, I have a few longing chapters but I'm not sure about the numbers of them, if the next few are short on either story I might consider putting all of the short ones up at once, because if they are annoying me they must be annoying you, I've had a bad case of writers block recently, but I'm going to spend a while watching both films and a load of episodes of TV shows to try and inspire myself, I'm hoping it'll help, doesn't mean it will though so no promises, I really want to be able to write long chapters for both of my stories, but with no ideas I don't really stand a chance, that's what all of the short one's are about, I have a few oneshot ideas though, so I should be updated my series of oneshots soon.**


	25. Bet on it

**OMG IT WAS SNOWING YESTERDAY!!!!!**

* * *

"Hey Gab," I heard Chad greet from behind me. 

I turned to face him smiling as he said, "Parents decided to let you come back then?"

It had been a week and a half since I'd been discharged from hospital, but my parents had only allowed me to actually leave the house now, and that was only for school, it's like I put myself under house arrest by blacking out, I know it's only because they care but I'd been inside so much I can still feel the boredom now.

"Finally," I answered, "I thought they'd have kept me under house arrest at least another month actually, I mean, being here's dangerous, I could get a paper cut and not notice, then it could get infected and I'd die."

"Whoa, intense," He commented, then joked, "Stay away from paper."

"My mom actually said the thing about the paper cut this morning, I know she's worried but that's insane." I complained.

"So basically she's freaking," He decided, "but you're the one that gave her a reason to, blacking out, what were you thinking?"

I laughed at the mock outrage in his voice as he asked his question.

"What's funny?" Taylor asked as she approached from behind him.

"I asked Gabi what she was thinking when she blacked out, because her mom's freaking more than anyone thought possible." Chad replied, sticking his tongue out at me.

"That's not really funny," Taylor pointed out, glancing over at me for an explanation.

"It's not what he said," I told her, "It's how he said it."

She nodded, taking that as an answer, after all, it did make more sense than laughing about what happened.

"We should get to homeroom," Taylor pointed out, "Did you tell Troy you were coming back today?"

"Nope, just you and Chad," I smiled, "I want to surprise him, is he here already?"

"No idea," Chad answered, "Haven't seen much of him for a while."

"Yeah, he's been kinda weird, you know, it's like he's avoiding us or something, nothing like himself." Taylor agreed

"He'll have his reasons," I sighed as we turned a corner, it was that moment I chose to look forward, I had to really, the corridor was packed, and I couldn't risk getting hurt again.

I stopped in my tracks at the sight of my cousin staring at something down the hall from her locker, she looked disgusted, I followed her gaze, and immediately wished I hadn't, it wasn't something I'd wanted to see on my first day back.

"I don't believe this," Taylor spoke first, "after everything he's put you through."

"At least we know why he was distant now." Chad stated, I could tell he was furious inside; he was trying to stay calm for me.

"I'm sorry Gabi," Came a voice from behind me, "That's the reason I came, I found out about your relationship and I had to stop it, I knew he'd hurt you."

I turned to face Jessica; it was easier to face her right now than reality.

"Ironic, isn't it," I decided, "About a month ago he accused me of cheating on him, and now he's flirting with other girls behind my back, it's actually kind of funny."

"Gabi, are you gonna be ok?" Taylor asked, evidently concerned.

"Tay, he's only flirting, it's not like he kissed her or anything," I pointed out, "I think I'll live."

"What, so your totally ok with this?" Chad asked, confused.

"I'll never be totally ok with it, but I don't own him, he has his own life and if that's what he wants to do, good luck to him," I replied.

"Are you sure you mean that?" Ellie asked, scaring me, I hadn't known she'd come over to the small group.

"It's flirting Ellie, not cheating," I pointed out, trying to reassure them, at the same time knowing that they weren't falling for my lies, "It's different, he'll have a good reason."

"Wow, that's some trust that you have in him," My younger cousin pointed out, "I guess if you trust him, I'll trust him."

"Nice to know you trust my cousin," Jessica sighed, "Problem is, I don't think he'll care whether his girlfriend's friends trust him or not."

"What's it got to do with you?" Ellie quipped, "Not as if you no anything about their relationship."

"I'm Jessica, Jessica Bolton, his cousin" Jessica smiled that sickly smile she had always given me in the past, "And you are? I'd like to know how it affects you."

"Ellie Montez, and unlike you, I don't see any reason for me to say my first name twice, unless you really are thick, then I will for your benefit, now tell me truthfully, do you remember my name? Cos I told you it at the hospital last week and you didn't seem to remember," My cousin questioned, mocking kindness, "I'm guessing you're a cheerleader."

"Not all cheerleaders are thick, Emma," Jessica argued.

With the exception of my cousin and Jessica, the group of us started laughing, confusion crossed Jessica's face, showing she clearly didn't understand what was so funny.

"My name," My cousin began stating, "is Ellie, it is not Emma."

"I was close," Jessica defended.

"Yeah, not so much," I commented,

"What's she doing here anyway, shouldn't you be hanging out with her own people, the little kids." Jessica continued.

"Shouldn't you be in kindergarten?" Ellie shot back, "Going by mental ability, not age."

Jessica gasped, turned on her heel and stormed off, she wasn't used to being insulted.

"I didn't know you had it in ya, kid," Chad told her.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me," Ellie replied mischievously, "but you'll find out in time, so will your parents Gab, anyway I should go to homeroom, good luck with T, I'm gonna go be El for a while."

"Did she just refer to Troy as T?" Taylor asked.

"I think she did," I told my friend, "Weird?"

"Totally," Taylor agreed as we headed towards homeroom, "Come on Chad," she called back as we walked, prompting him to follow us.

"Hey," Chad spoke after a while, catching us up, "I just noticed something."

"What?" Taylor asked, rolling her eyes at me.

"Gabi's cousin is here, and so is Troy's, weird huh," He grinned.

"You only just figured that out?" I quizzed, "You've had like, two weeks to figure that out and you just got it?"

"I'm going to ignore that." He replied.

"Is that because you're not sure if it's an insult," I continued annoying him.

"Hitting your head made you bitter Gab." He decided

"Please don't call me Gab," I told him, "El calls me Gab, and I don't like El, heck, I don't even think El likes El when she's Ellie, does that make sense?"

"Perfect sense," Taylor told me in perfect unison with Chad's "No sense at all,"

"Nice to see you back Montez." Ms. Darbus announced my entrance as we reached the class.

"It's good to be back," I smiled back at the teacher before glancing over at Troy, he had obviously been in deep conversation with the girl from before, but looked up, a goofy grin forming on his face when he saw me.

I giggled at his face before taking my seat at the back of the room.

He turned around, flashing his megawatt smile at me as Ms. Darbus began her usual homeroom drone.

I started doodling in one of my many notebooks when he turned back to the front, the squiggles and swirls forming no apparent pattern. I'd forgotten how boring homeroom could get.

A piece of paper landed on top of the book, breaking my current swirl, I sighed and unfolded it, reading the words on the paper.

_And there was me thinking you were gonna stay housebound forever, hospital stays must do good for you, you look better than you ever have, I thought that was impossible.__Troy xoxo_

I smiled at the note and quickly scribbled something back.

_Housebound forever: me? Not likely, too boring, and the thing about me looking better than ever, you said that yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that etc. btw, Ty came last night, staying for the week, he's gone all concerned brother on me, it's freaky. G xxx_

As soon as Ms. Darbus turned her back once again I threw the now screwed up piece of paper at Troy, he turned back at me mouthing, "Your brother is a moron," I nodded in agreement and went back to doodling on the page.

I continued drawing until the bell rang out, signalling the end of homeroom. I quickly dropped the book in by bag and, swinging the bag over my shoulder, went to leave the room.

"Hey," I heard Troy's voice as he put his arm around my shoulders, "You didn't say you were coming back today."

"Oh, didn't I, must have forgotten," I joked.

"Did you get all funny after that bump on the head?" He asked, grinning.

"Nope, that was a one off," I told him.

"Hey, did you happen to see me talking to Louise this morning?" Troy decided to ask.

"I saw you flirting with Louise, yeah," I admitted.

"I was not flirting with Louise, I only flirt with you, constantly, sometimes in note form, Chad say's it's sick," He defended.

"Chad would," I pointed out before realising what he was trying to do, "Stop trying to change the subject, it makes me more suspicious."

"Don't you trust me?" He asked, his tone telling me he wanted to know the truth.

"You haven't given me much reason to," I told him, I noticed the immediate hurt in his eyes and made him look down at me, "So I don't know why I do."

He kissed me gently on the lips before saying, "In time I'll give you reasons, but right now I'm going to give you a reason to leave, you're going to be late for class."

I glanced at the time on my cell and realised he was right.

"See you at lunch?" I asked as I started running.

"You can bet on it." He confirmed.


	26. Weird

**Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, sorry, my mom would moan if I screamed out loud and my sister is seriously annoying me.**

**Ok this is all Gabi/Ellie, seeing as this story is technically based on Ellie and I've been going off of that subject a bit, it's getting a bit too like my other story, so I want to get back on theme, there will still be quite a bit of Troyella, but Ellie will be in most chapters, and will be mentioned in all of them.**

* * *

"You find it weird, don't you?" My cousin asked me.

I looked up from my homework to face her, "Find what weird?" I honestly had no idea what she was talking about at this point.

"That I call you Brie here, but Gab at school," Ellie elaborated, "It's because of my friends, they might find the whole Brie thing weird now they're used to me calling you Gab."

I nodded, understanding what she was saying, "Why have you started using the word weird a lot?"

"You seriously want to ask such a weird question?" She replied, making me laugh.

"What?" She asked, confused.

"You just said weird again," I told her, "You just proved my point."

"Maybe everything's been weird recently, you being in hospital was pretty weird, so was school when I knew you weren't there," She explained.

"Maybe it's just our lives that are weird," I suggested.

"Maybe," She replied, "Actually, that would make a lot more sense."

"But in our weird world nothing makes sense," I joked.

"Don't you have homework?" She asked, smiling at my comment.

"I was doing homework, but then you started going on about weird things and now I can't do my homework because I'll never be able to concentrate." I explained.

"Excuses," She sighed, "always blame the cousin."

"Why not?" I asked, "Tyler used to blame Brent for everything."

"Yeah, but Tyler's weird," Ellie decided.

"Goes with our weird world" I pointed out.

"Are you ever going to drop that?" She questioned.

"Nope," I replied, "I'll still be reminding you of this conversation when we're in out forties, and our fifties for that matter."

"Evil," She laughed.

"Always," I answered, looking back down at my homework.

"So, did you talk to him about this morning?" Ellie asked as I began writing.

I looked up, knowing exactly what she was talking about, she wasn't looking at me, she had gone back to reading her book, but I knew she was listening.

"Yeah, he said he wasn't flirting," I told her, "I believe him, he has these nervous habits when he's lying, so I'd know if he was."

"So Jessica was just causing trouble?" She questioned.

"That's all Jessica does, she likes to cause trouble, I'm used to it," I answered.

"But you used to be friends one." She reminded me.

"Things change Ellie, she hurt me, there's no going back after that, she ditched me for popularity, I didn't know Troy was her cousin, if I did I probably would have avoided him, but I can't now, I love him, so I have to deal with her for him, it doesn't mean I have to like it, but she's his family, I owe him this," I explained.

"You owe him?" She questioned, "He owes you, you don't owe him, you haven't done anything to hurt him, he's hurt you, so has she, how do you owe him?"

"I owe him because he's there Ellie, I own him because he didn't leave when I told him about Jessica, I just owe him," I told her, knowing she probably wouldn't understand.

"How do you owe him for being there, he's there because he wants to be, he owes you for letting him hang around," Ellie decided.

"Can we talk about someone else?" I asked, desperately wanting to drop the subject.

"Like who?" She quizzed, "Tyler's been a bit of a moron recently, but I hear he was born that way, Chad's going round telling everyone how weird it is that you and Troy both have a cousin staying with you, Louise, or should I call her Lulu, doesn't have her real nose, anything else you want to know about anyone?"

"How did you know that thing about Louise?" I questioned.

"Her friends haven't mastered the art of keeping their mouths closed," Ellie explained, "All they ever do is talk talk talk, you can ask those girls anything and they'll be happy to tell you, well, me, not you, they hate you, you heard everything Louise said about her and Troy hooking up, you two getting back together kinda complicated that plan, she's jealous of you, end of."

"End of?" I asked, "Since when did you start saying end of?"

"I don't say end of, El says end of, and when I'm discussing Louise I channel El, so end of is going to come up a bit, you'll get used to it, I did," She replied.

I smiled at her referring to her alter ego, she had two personalities, and she hadn't even admitted that her two personalities were another weird occurrence in our lives.

* * *

**Haha, i say end of all the time, it annoys my parents.**


	27. Problem

"Ever watched the doodle bops?" Ellie quizzed as she walked up to me at lunch.

"Why ask that?" I quizzed, genuinely confused.

"Because." She smiled.

"Because what?" I asked.

"Just because," She grinned as she walked back towards her friends without waiting for an answer.

"And I though Jess was weird," Troy commented.

"Jess is just strange," I stated.

"You really hate her, don't you?" He quizzed.

"I don't hate her," I sighed, "despite everything I can't, even though I know should, it's not hate, I just don't trust her, I don't know how to, I'm not sure I can again."

"It's good that you don't hate her," He decided, "She's my family, if you hated her I'd have to…"

"Have to what?" I asked as he trailed off, suddenly feeling a rush of anger and worry overtakes me.

"Nothing," He tried covering.

"Have to what, Troy?" I repeated, ensuring that he knew I was serious.

"It's nothing," He continued.

"It's nothing or I'm nothing?" I quizzed angrily.

"I didn't say that Gabi, you're twisting things," He complained, trying to hug me.

I pulled away, "Tell me what you were going to say."

"Why?" He asked, "It's not important, you don't need to know."

"Yes I do," I told him, "After everything that's happened, I need to know, because the trust won't come back on it's own, you need to prove to me that I can trust you, and if you're hiding things from me I can't."

"It's not important, it was a momentary thought that was gone as quick as it came, please, you don't want me to tell you this," He tried.

I watched him for a while, I could tell he was nervous, and he was right, I didn't need to know what he was going to say, I already knew, and the important thing was that he hadn't said it, if he meant it he would have said it.

Slowly I nodded, knowing that I had to help build the trust aswell, it wasn't just down to him, I had to let myself trust him too.

"Hey," Jessica spoke excitedly from behind me, ruining the moment.

"Hi," Troy replied politely, but in a way that told me he didn't want her there.

"Everything ok?" Jessica quizzed.

"Fine," I sighed as I turned to walk off.

I still couldn't stand being around her, I'd made a mental decision days ago not to stick around when she was near, it was hard when most of my friend's like her, and her being Troy's cousin just complicated everything, but she's not my problem, she'll never be my problem, not anymore, she stopped being my problem a long time ago, besides, I have Ellie to worry about now.

* * *

**I know, I know, short, but I'm concentrating on my other story, I'm considering putting this one on hiatus.**


	28. Lies

**I should add the next chapter of impossible perfection up in a few hours, if not, I'm sorry, I just wanted to get a chapter up for this story.**

* * *

"How's paradise?" Taylor quizzed as we walked out of Math.

"What paradise?" I shot back, "My ex best friend who cruelly ditched me when we were eleven, is now back in my life, and happens to be my boyfriend's cousin, how does that make my life paradise?"

"Has Jess been interfering?" Taylor asked.

"Not exactly," I admitted, "She just shows up when I don't want her to, like she's determined to get in the way, and I haven't told Troy what she said to me a few days ago, you know, over the whole Louise thing, and after lunch today, I don't think I can."

"What happened this morning?" I was asked.

"Troy said he was glad that I didn't hate Jessica, because if I did he's have to…" I explained.

"Have to what?" She questioned.

"That's where he left it, and he brushed it off when I asked what he was going to say, he said I didn't have to know, so I dropped it," finished.

"You think he was going to say…" She trailed off.

I nodded, knowing what she meant.

"You really are having trouble trusting him again, aren't you," Taylor pointed out.

I nodded again, "I wish it wasn't so hard, but it is, and Jessica's just making it worse."

"Have you even tried talking to him about her?" She quizzed.

I shook my head, "I can't, not now, he'll hate me for it, she's his cousin, I can't compete with a relation, there's no way I could win over a relation,"

"Gabi, come on, I've seen the way he looks at you, compared to you, Jessica is nothing to him, I may not agree with you forgiving him over the whole misunderstanding with Ellie, but even I can see he would do anything for you, and you already know that, all you have to do is let him be there, let him love you, I know it's hard without the trust, but I know you'll regret it if you don't tell him this, besides, what better way is there for him to prove you can trust him?" Taylor lectured.

"You're right," I agreed, "I know you're right, but that doesn't make it easier, I'm scared Tay, what if he thinks I'm just trying to cause trouble?"

"Then you know for sure that you can't trust him," She decided, "Come on, I promised Chad I'd drop by basketball practice after school, you're coming with."

"Do I have to?" I complained.

"Yes," She told me as she dragged me towards the gym.

Five minutes later Taylor pulled me through the gym doors, practice was just about to start.

"Tay!" Chad exclaimed, making his way over to us, "You made it."

"I said I would, didn't I," She replied as I looked around the room.

Jessica was sitting on the bleachers, watching the rest of the team begin their workout.

"I'm gonna go," I told Taylor, still watching the bleachers.

" No you're not," She refused, pulling me over to where Jessica was sitting as Chad went back to practicing, we must have been no more than two metres away from her now.

"Hey guys," Jessica grinned, "Nice to see you here, I wouldn't be but I didn't feel like walking home."

"Ok," Taylor answered unsurely, "We're here to watch our boyfriends, because we promised we would, and we keep promises, because we take our relationships seriously, not just our romantic ones though, our friendships aswell."

Jessica's smile dropped for a millisecond before coming back brighter than ever, "That's great," She grinned, clearly thinking we wanted to be in a conversation with her, "It's good that you support Troy, Gabi."

I glared at her for a few seconds before saying, "Gabriella," and turning back.

"What?" She asked.

"My name is Gabriella," I stated without facing her, "Only my friends call me Gabi."

"We are friends," She decided, trying to sound confused.

"Were," I corrected, "We haven't been friends since we were eleven."

"Gabriella, that's in the past, get over it, please, for Troy's sake, he just wants us to get on," Jessica decided.

"You may be able to sit there and pretend nothing happened six years ago," I half-shouted, "but I can't, I thought I could trust you, but clearly, I was wrong to ever believe a word you said, was popularity really worth more to you than true friendship, did you really want to be popular that badly?"

"It wasn't like that," She argued, "Why bring it up now, anyway? If you wanted to wreck practice for the guys then you've done a pretty good job."

I looked around to notice the entire basketball team watching us; Troy was walking towards us.

"You seriously need to let go of the past, what's the use of holding on to your pathetic past anyway, half of your family are dead, your bratty cousin lives with you because she has nowhere else to go, and as for Troy, he's only with you because he feels sorry for you," Jessica snapped.

"I can't fight with you anymore," I sighed, knowing I was near to tears, "I can't, I just can't do this anymore."

I ran as fast as I could, I had no idea where I was going, I just needed to get away, but he grabbed me from behind as soon as I got into the hall, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist.

"You know that's not true," He told me as Taylor came up behind him.

"Leave her, Troy," Taylor told him, "I think your family has done enough for one day."

"I'm not leaving her," He argued, "Not again."

I knew I was crying, which was probably one of the reasons I couldn't bring myself to speak, I just let him turn me round and hug me, trying to soothe me, only I knew it wouldn't work, what if Jessica was telling the truth and he was just with me because he felt sorry for me? What if she was right?

But if she was, why did he come after me? If he didn't care, why would he bother?

"Brie?" I heard a voice from the end of the hall, "Brie, what happened?"

I tried to pull away from Troy's embrace, but he just tightened his grip, muttering, "Not yet,"

"What did you do to her?" Came Ellie's accusatory tone from just behind me, "Let her go, now, you promised me, you promised me you'd never hurt her again and I find her like this."

"You think this was me?" He asked, "No, this wasn't me, this was Jessica, it was all her, I knew she'd do something like this, but I didn't expect it so soon."

"This was Jessica?" Ellie asked.

"Yes," Troy answered.

"Tell me later, Brie," Ellie told me, "I want the full story, Where's Jessica?"

"Gym," I heard Taylor tell her.

My cousin's footsteps got quieter as she walked away, heading in the direction of the gym, rational me would have stopped her going, but right now I can't be rational, it's too hard.

* * *

**This may be the last chapter for a week, because i'll have more time when i'm on my christmas holidays, i know it was kind of dramatic, but also short, and it seems like a kind of filler, but i'm really concentrating on my other story right now, seriously, i haven't updated my charmed story in months, and the last chapter to that was shorter than the shortest chapter in this.**

**Ok, anyways Review!!**


	29. Blissful Ignorance

**Haha Kerry, I added a chapter to this story instead, I win.**

**Ok it's not a competition, and if it is it's a bad one, I don't get a prize.**

* * *

**Hehe, I started my own C2, felt like it, anyways, onto the story.**

* * *

**Do you know how many e-mails I had yesterday, all from this site, 50, that's right, 50, eleven of which were reviews, and the others all new chapters of the stories I have on alert, it's scary, having that many, but so worth it, because I had loads to read, it was a great day.**

* * *

"Troy, you can't ignore me forever," Jessica pointed out to him, "I'm a blood relation, she's not, she won't be there forever, I will."

His grip on me tightened, as if he was afraid that her words would make me run again, we continued walking, ignoring her as she followed us, I could feel him tensing up, he'd been trying to keep her away from me since the infamous incident that my cousin had decided was his fault.

"You really think you can be like this at home, even your parents have noticed now, face it, sooner or later you're gonna have to talk to me," Jessica decided.

Once again his grip tightened, making me look up at him.

"You're kinda suffocating me," I whispered, not wanting his cousin to hear.

He loosened his grip gradually, subtle enough for Jessica not to notice.

"So is this how it's gonna be, I upset your present girlfriend and you ignore me until you break up with her, then thank me for trying to warn you about how clingy and needy she is?" Jessica quizzed.

"Stay calm," I demanded as quiet as possible, "She wants you to react, don't react."

He kissed me on the forehead in reply, probably to annoy Jessica more than he already was.

"BRIE," I heard my cousin shout from her locker, alerting me to the fact that we were close to it.

"I thought I was Gab at school," I answered as we reached her.

"That was so last week," She informed me, "What's with the tall person and the shadow?"

"So you still hate me?" Troy asked her.

"Nope, I hate the shadow though, and whenever you're around, the shadow seems to be there," Ellie explained.

"I hate the shadow too, but it's a shadow, nothing I can do about it," He replied.

I giggled at the interaction between the two, even though she blamed him, none of these near comedy sketches were forced, Jessica's presence just seemed to make them funnier.

"Brie, did you ask him?" Ellie suddenly quizzed.

"Ask me what?" Troy questioned as I shook my head.

"I told you to ask!" Ellie exclaimed, "Your mom said you could, but we're leaving in two weeks, how long are you planning on putting this off?"

"Leaving?" Troy repeated, clearly confused.

"We're going to Florida, only for the weekend, the police found some of my mom's stuff, and Brent's, everything that wasn't destroyed in the fire really, we're going to get it, and they found my uncle too, he said he wants to be a part of my life, his kids have all left home, but he thinks it would be better for me if I stayed living where I am, so we're going to see him aswell, and Aunt Anna said you could come, but Brie clearly hasn't asked you like she promised she would." Ellie explained.

I was shocked; she hadn't spoken so openly about her past in so long, and now she was just rambling on about it like it was the most natural thing in the world, even with Jessica standing right behind me, hanging around like a bad smell.

"I'd have to clear it with my parents," Troy pointed out, "but they should be cool with it."

"You're eighteen and still clearing things with your parents!" Ellie exclaimed in disbelief, "that is so sad, the only reason I clear things with my Aunt and Uncle is because I'm still a minor, as soon as I hit eighteen they won't know anything."

"You're a rebel Montez," Troy decided.

"Nothing like my Brie or my bro, they are and were respectively, the good one's, me and Ty, we go with the flow, I still hate Ty though, Brie, tell Ty I hate him when he next calls," Ellie smiled.

"I am not telling my brother that you hate him," I argued, "tell him yourself if you really want him to know."

She scowled, making it clear that she was acting stupid, she'd gotten a lot more mellow over the past few days, home was a lot less gloomy, she was even singing more.

"Have you noticed something?" Ellie suddenly quizzed, then continued without waiting for a reply, "Brie, isn't freaking out about being late for homeroom, and shadow has made itself late by hanging around, and I'm late because…"

"You talk to much," I finished her sentence.

"Not what I was gonna say!" Ellie exclaimed, "You insult me Gabriella Isabelle Montez."

"She's using full names," I grinned, "She's mad, she's using full names, I've never made her do that before, this is a landmark moment, we should celebrate."

"Cuz, your perfect girlfriend is on crack," Jessica remarked from behind us.

"Brie, I'm scared, the shadow's talking," Ellie joked, putting on a hilarious fake-fear face.

"So immature," Jessica sighed, but stayed rooted on the spot behind us.

"Get to homeroom Ellie, nobody's late yet but we will be if we don't go now," I pointed out, now knowing how she'd react to Jessica even trying to comment on her behaviour.

She nodded and walked off, taking that as a cue, the three of us also started walking, one, as ever, still unwanted.

* * *

**I know it's short, but I'm hoping to add a chapter to all three of my stories and maybe a new year oneshot over the next two days, yes it's already new years eve in England, 3.20am to be precise, it's kind of like a new years treat for all of the readers, updating all my stories, I'm only starting with this one because Kerry told me to update Making it right and then let slip that she only reads that one, insults people, my best friend, insulting me, I read both her stories, and all of her oneshots, and this is how she repays me, by only reading one of mine, ok I'm gonna get a text from her five minutes after I put this up telling me to stop being such a drama queen, I know her so well, news flash Kerry: I AM A DRAMA QUEEN, I CAN'T HELP IT!!!**

**Ha, she'll probably never read that, which means I probably won't get the text.**

**YAY!!!!**

* * *

**Point from Kerry: Isn't it annoying when you get an email telling you you've updated your own story, it's like, i think i'd know that, i'm not that dumb**

* * *

**REVIEW!!**


	30. Florida fun, part 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Disney World, or High School Musical, I do however; own the idea of this story and the characters I created, I would like to say I own the plot, and yeah of the story I do, but I lost the plot when I was two, I'm insane, it's obvious.**

* * *

**I think that this is the longest chapter i've written in a while, although it's not as good as some of my other chapters.**

* * *

"We're not here on a vacation, moron," Ellie stated, smirking as my brother rummaged through his bag, throwing out bright clothes, "we're only here for the weekend, did you bring your whole closet or something?"

"But we are going to some of the places you'd visit on vacation," He pointed out, "What are you doing in my hotel room anyway, squirt?"

"Annoying you," I answered for her, "We're bored."

"Go be bored in your own room," Tyler snapped in reply.

"But we're wanted here," I grinned in reply, "We're guests."

"You know," Tyler spoke as he turned to Troy, "right at this moment, I really hate you, you're the reason they are here, you know."

"I know," he admitted, "Great, isn't it."

"Maybe for you," Tyler sighed, "But hanging out with my sister, cousin and sister's boyfriend in Florida wasn't exactly top on my list of priorities."

"Is that why when I went in your room, I found this list on your bed titled priorities, and this was the top one," Ellie teased, continuing as she meant to go on.

"You went in my room?" Tyler asked, seemingly worried.

"No, wait, does that mean that the list exists?" Ellie giggled.

"No, " he denied, "Why would I have a list of priorities, my only priority is to get through college, and to force Gabi to get through college…"

"Brie's not going to college," Ellie interrupted.

"I'm not?" I choked, questioning her words.

"Nope, that would mean leaving Albuquerque, which would mean leaving me, so I can't allow it," my cousin explained, "Unless, of course, you go to U of A, I can allow that."

"So I'm not allowed to have a life because you don't want me to leave home?" I asked, finding her decision hilarious.

"Exactly," Ellie joked her confirmation, we'd already talked about me going to college, and she'd made me promise to come home every weekend, which automatically rules out going anywhere too far.

"You don't have to worry about her, Disney, I'll look after her," Troy told her, wrapping his arm around me and kissing my cheek.

"Ok, firstly, Eww, get a room," Ellie replied, "Secondly, how many times have I told you not to call me Disney?"

"Gabi, I think Disney's mad at me," he whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

He'd been calling her Disney ever since he found out where in Florida she had lived. She made out that it annoyed her more than it actually did; she actually liked being reminded that she had grown up near Disney World.

"You call me that again and I'll tell Aunt Anna that you don't want to go to Disney World, and when my uncle takes us, you can hang out here," Ellie threatened while smiling sweetly.

"Well I can hardly call you Orlando," he complained, "Disney's easier."

"Just because I used to live in Orlando, Lake Eola Heights to be precise, which is kinda near Disney World, doesn't mean you can call me Disney," Ellie explained.

"You love Disney really," Troy continued, "I bet you know all the ways to sneak in."

"You can't sneak into Disney world, moron," Ellie smirked, "It's like, illegal, and Disney World is completely protected, I should know, Brent got a summer job there once."

"How do you deal with this?" Tyler asked me, clearly curious.

"It's funny," I told him, walking closer to him, "You get used to it anyway."

Troy and Ellie were still continuing the Disney battle in the background, but I decided to continue the conversation with my brother instead of listening to them after seeing the look he gave my boyfriend, "Do you hate him more than Sarah or more than you hated Brent?"

"I didn't hate Brent, Gabi," He answered, ignoring the earlier part of my question.

"You're avoiding the question," I pointed out.

"They're both Bolton's, He whispered after glancing at my cousin and boyfriend to assure they were both still occupied in their argument, "I wouldn't trust either of them, and neither should you, you've been hurt by two Bolton's sis, I don't want to see it happen again, and my giving him another chance you gave him the ability to do that."

"I won't hurt her, Tyler," Troy cut in, obviously having overheard, "I've been an idiot in the past yeah, but I'm not anymore."

I smiled at him in reassurance, knowing that he still got nervous when my brother confronted him, most people did though, Tyler could be pretty intimidating when he wanted to be.

"I wish I could believe you," Tyler replied, "She's happier when you're around, but I can't, last time I believed you, you hurt her."

"I don't need you to believe me, or trust me," Troy pointed out, "I need Gabi to believe and trust me, but I don't need you too."

"Then why do you care?" Tyler quizzed.

"It'd be a lot easier if you did," He was told, "But I don't need your approval."

"She's my sister, I have to look out for her, so I can't approve of someone that's hurt her in the past," Tyler decided.

"She's in the room you know," Ellie remarked, saving me from saying it myself, "So am I."

"And there was me thinking you'd left," Tyler answered sarcastically as Troy wrapped his arms around me once again.

"I'm never gonna leave Ty, I wouldn't give you the satisfaction, besides, my new life goal is to become Brie's shadow." Ellie smirked.

"That's sad baby cuz, even by your standards," Tyler shot back.

"You can hardly comment on that, everything you say and do is sad," Ellie smiled sweetly.

"What did Mom say we were doing today?" I questioned, trying to stop them from arguing, their fights weren't funny, and they could easily turn extreme.

"She didn't," Ellie stated, "Uncle Max said we were going to meet my Uncle Jack, then we're going to Disney world together, Uncle Jack's daughter is coming too, with her kids, so I get to meet more than just him of my moms family."

"There's more Disney's?" Troy quizzes in mock horror.

"Again, How Many Times Have I Told You Not To Call Me DISNEY," Ellie all but shouted.

"Disney, stop shouting," Tyler joined in; catching on that this was something that could help him annoy her.

"I'm gonna ignore you morons, because I'm meeting my extended family in a few hours, so I have to go and get ready." Ellie replied, practically skipping out of the room.

Moments later she was back, "Room key?" She asked me as I laughed and handed it to her, "I'm blonde, what's your excuse?" She shot at the three of us as the other two joined in with the laughter.

It was clear that Ellie was excited about meeting her family, I wasn't so excited though, I had no idea what she was in for, I didn't know if these people were nice, sure her uncle seemed to want to know her, but that didn't mean that he could be trusted, I was worried about her, there was no other way to put it.

* * *

**This story is finishing at chapter 40, I don't know if I'm going to write a sequel or not, if I do it won't be until after I finish Impossible Perfection or Making it right, three stories at once can be a bit confusing, sure I'd miss the characters, but you never know, I might create another version of Ellie for one of my other stories, Jessica, she was like a clone of Sarah from my first trilogy, (Heartbreak-Can you forgive? – Impossible Perfection) so I won't miss her. Tell me what you think, you may be able to help me decide, depends on how long it takes me to make up my mind, because I have to consider how long Making it Right will be, I already know how long Impossible Perfection will be.**

* * *

**As a near-end sort of thing, if anyone has anything that they would like to seen happen towards the end of this story, tell me and I'll see if I can fit it in, take note of the rating though, I won't even consider anything that isn't suitable for that rating, and I won't kill any current characters, after all the death in that family killing one of would me freaky, not to mention cruel to the fictional peeps.**

* * *

**Review!!!!!**


	31. Florida fun, part 2

**Check the poll on my profile, it's actually important for once. **

* * *

**Ok, so today I figured out that I'm stressed, thanks to my psychology lesson, we were discussing the symptoms of stress, because that's the topic we're on but anyways, it says**

**Psychological signs of stress: (From Psychology First by Barbara Woods)**

**Cognitive Signs**

**Confusion or distracted thinking – People experiencing stress have difficulties with concentration, memory or logical thought.**

**Emotions- Frustration, Anger, Anxiety (general term for worry, doubts, fears, apprehension, tension.)**

**Low levels of motivation – Little interest or motivation, this may be a symptom of the helplessness or depression which may develop in someone experiencing continued stress.**

**That is me in a heartbeat, the only thing I can motivate myself with is this, and even then really short updates take me hours, I thought it was laziness, but apparently it's not, I still think it is though, I mean, come on, I'm fifteen, what are the chances that it's stress, not likely.**

* * *

**Ok, moving on….**

**I would like to take this moment to say goodbye to my good friend George, he was a wonderful friend whom I have now seen for the last time, he is gone, never to be seen again, we will all miss George and his crazy antics, the way he ran around in circles and made us laugh, the way he ran, he was so fast, but most of all, we'll never forget the way he was taken from us, no, George isn't dead, our science teacher nicked him, George is the woodlouse we were testing in science, he was running around the petri dish in circles, it was something about conditions they live in or something.**

* * *

**Ok, enough of my ramble, onto the story.**

* * *

"I hate theme parks," Tyler complained under his breath, "I shouldn't be wasting my time here, I'm too smart to be here, I shouldn't have came here, this place is so not me, why did these people drag me here?"

"Quit complaining," Ellie told him, deciding to let him know she had heard, "You whine more than a four year old."

"Be nice to your cousin Ellie," her uncle told her, I guess trying to discipline her was like second nature to him after having to do the same with his own children.

"He's never nice to me," Ellie pointed out, "So I don't think I should."

"He's your family, that's why you should," the man answered, sounding righteous, "you should always respect your family."

"So I have to respect Tyler, I guess I can do that, for a few days at least," Ellie smirked, "while I'm respecting Tyler, I'll annoy Troy."

"How is that respecting your family?" Her uncle quizzed.

"Troy's not family, he's my cousin's annoying boyfriend," Ellie explained, "his dad has the same name as you."

"Ellie, do you have any idea how random that is?" I asked her, " 'his dad has the same name as you', did you honestly have nothing else to say?"

"Nope," Ellie admitted, "I think it's a big coincidence actually, a really funny coincidence."

"Right," I nodded, hoping she perceived the sarcasm I knew the adults wouldn't.

"El?" I heard a voice question, and turned to face it's owner, interested as to what she had to say to my cousin, "Could we talk later, I'm sure my father told you I'm an author, I think you might be able to help with my latest book, I could use your personality for a character, I just need background."

"Background," Ellie laughed, then attempted to take on a serious demeanour, "Sure, Charlie,"

Charlotte Hargreaves, the divorcee daughter of Ellie's uncle Jack, the mother of the two young children that were currently trailing along with us, holding us up at every opportunity. She'd told us all to call her Charlie, but I was still calling her Charlotte, I don't like using nicknames for people I don't know. She was twenty-six, we'd been told that, her children were five, five-year-old fraternal twins, like Sharpay and Ryan, only four times as bratty. Christi and Connor Crawley. I felt sorry for them in a way, they didn't see their dad, he'd left when they were three, he wasn't bothered that they even existed, but then, just your run of the mill dead beat dad, I personally don't think he's worth worrying about, but the kids may feel different when they're older. I know I shouldn't care, but they're Ellie's family, I can't help caring, it's hard not to get involved when one of the few people that probably knows me better than I know myself is involved.

"That's great," Charlotte smiled, "fantastic."

Ellie nodded, obviously happy that she was getting on with the other half of her family, I was surprised that my parents had stayed quiet, they'd became somewhat protective of Ellie over the past few months, it wasn't like them to not make a comment on something like that.

"Hey, think we should, escape or something?" Tyler quizzed both Troy and me almost silently, "I think I can get you guys away from this bunch of loons."

"Please," I sighed, glad that someone had finally suggested getting away.

"Mom," Tyler spoke out loud, "we were thinking we'd go and eat."

"Tyler it's ten thirty," Mom pointed out as I rolled my eyes.

"Gabs and Troy are growing kids mom, they need to eat," Tyler continued.

"Are you really hungry?" Mom asked, in disbelief.

I nodded, deciding to play along, "Starving, I skipped breakfast, and before you say it, I know I shouldn't have, I just wasn't hungry."

Mom sighed, checking her watch, "Ok then, go on, but meet us at the park entrance by one, we have other places we need to go today, this trip wasn't all about fun."

"Thanks mom," I rushed, as the three of us started walking in the opposite direction.

"Food," Troy spoke as soon as we were out of the general range that parents can hear you from, "the was the best you could come up with?"

"You can blame Gabi for being so impatient," Tyler decided.

"What do you think of them?" I quizzed, trying to change the subject.

"Charlotte's a bit of a freak," Tyler pointed out, "did you see the way she was looking at us? Like we shouldn't be there or something, and her kids were just so annoying, so incredibly annoying, I swear Gab, you were so much easier to deal with at that age."

"Her uncle reminds me of my dad, and it's not just the name, it's the way of making you feel guilty when you've done nothing wrong," Troy added, "it's creepy."

"Now they are hot," Tyler suddenly blurted out; we both simultaneously, unconsciously followed his gaze to see three women that must have been around twenty.

"They're not so great," Troy, decided, "they got nothing on Gabi."

"Perv," I commented, smiling "if you go over there, I will deny knowing you."

"She's got you whipped," Tyler told Troy, then turned to me, "I'd love it if you denied knowing me, make my life so much easier, I'm off, they're calling my name."

"What's up with him?" I pondered aloud as my brother walked away.

"I don't think I want to know," Troy answered, scaring me slightly.

"He's being nice," I pointed out, "Tyler's never nice."

"Forget him, let's have fun," Troy smiled, grabbing my hand as he started to run in the opposite direction to my brother.

* * *

**That's got to be the longest chapter I have written in a while (not including the last chapter of this, i haven't updated this in days), even though it's still short.**

* * *

**Don't forget about the poll, it's important.**

* * *

**REVIEW!!! Six for the next chapter, like my other stories.**


	32. ThanksI guess?

**I'm bad, yeah I know, a week and five days is a hell of a long time for me to go without updating, but making it right and impossible perfection have seriously benefited from my neglect of this story, they've had like, three chapters each in the past week.**

* * *

**Today wasn't random enough for an over the top authors note, so I'm going to deprive you of that, sorry (although you probably don't read it anyway so don't really care).**

* * *

**Guess what I watched last night, and no it wasn't one of the HSM's, I watched the great St Trinians train robbery, because as you will know if you read Impossible Perfection, St Trinians is my new obsession, I may actually write a St Trinians story, then again, I have got five on the go at the minute, I'm so smart, I can list them in alphabetical Order, look:**

**2016: A charmed future (it's on a kinda hiatus though)**

**Getting Through**

**Impossible Perfection**

**Making it right**

**Oneshots: past, present and future (only when I'm out of ideas for my other stories)**

**I know, I am such a genius (no comment necessary here, Kerry, or I'll have to mention the tonne of feathers/tonne of bricks thing in the next chapters of ALL FIVE stories, just a warning.)**

* * *

**Don't forget that my psychology textbook told me I'm stressed, Yay go me, and our citizenship teacher takes his citizenship textbook everywhere (Erm why?), seriously, he keeps saying, "and when this happened I had my citizenship textbook with me so I knew where I stood legally."**

* * *

**I am a greeter on Puzzle Pirates, making me legendary (says the girl that plays a pirate game!)**

* * *

**My dad is watching football (soccer, remember, I'm from England), I hate football, if a dog can play it, it's not a real sport, and Lucky (my friends old dog) could play football, therefore, football is not a sport, end of, basketball, however, is an awesome sport that I just happen to be good at.**

* * *

**My brother plays golf, how HSM2 is that?**

* * *

**I'm going to watch a DVD later, guess what I'm gonna watch, I bet you can't, of course you can't, cos I don't even know what I'm gonna watch.**

* * *

**Here's some things for you to try:**

**1.What's heavier? A tonne of feathers or a tonne of bricks? (from my dad)**

**2.You're driving the bus, twenty eight people get on, seven get off, ten people get on, eighteen get off, thirty five people get on, twelve people get off, six people get on, eight people get off, thirteen people get on, twenty two people get off, What colour are the bus drivers eyes? (From the film because I said so)**

* * *

**If I get any more of them, they will appear in whatever story I happen to be writing.**

* * *

**Haha, remember, this is all Gabriella's POV, and she's getting a bit Passive aggressive, and it's all Kerry's fault! Lol, not really, read and you'll find out why.**

* * *

**Ok, ramble over, it's like, over a page long, and there was me saying I didn't have much ramble today, story time (what am I? Five? Story time, what is up with me)?**

* * *

Christi Crawley **(lol, that makes me laugh, Christi Crawley, try saying that five times fast) **was annoying, it was official, my cousin was trouble, I knew that, what I hadn't been expecting were the children of my cousin's cousin to be trouble.

But, nevertheless **(big words, BIG WORDS),** Christi was bad to the bone, how many other five-year-old girls would run off in the middle of a theme park? I know what my mom would say; give the kid a chance, but seriously, how many chances can you give one kid?

So, after an hour of near bliss, my cousin called me telling me there was an emergency, thank you Christi Crawley **(still love saying that)**.

"Brie, why you sooooo quiet?" Ellie whined, she's been seriously annoying since Troy and I rejoined the group.

"Because I'm sooooo bored," I replied, mimicking her, "seriously, how long does it take to find one kid?" **(Seriously, I've watched too much Greys Anatomy)**

"Christi's small, I guess," Ellie commented, "I still don't see how she got away,"

"Bad parenting," I stated more than suggested, what kind of a mother lost her own kid? Ok, so my mom lost me once, but that was in my house, and I was three, and sitting in a cupboard, that Tyler had coincidently put me in earlier in the day.

"Charlie does seem a little relaxed with parenting doesn't she?" Ellie pointed out, "I mean, your mom, she's obsessed with knowing where we are every second of every day, yet Christi got away."

"How did I end up on babysitting duty?" I sighed to myself, laughing at Ellie's face as she tightened her grip on Connor's right hand.

"I'm not a baby," she complained, "Connor is though, is that what you mean,"

"Sure," I agreed half-heartedly, gazing off in the direction everyone else had disappeared.

"Who do you think will find her?" Ellie asked, watching me expectantly.

"Find who?" I answered, turning back to her.

"Christi," she spoke, "please don't tell me you just forgot, daydreaming about him again were you, he's still in the park you know, you'll see him soon, I'm gonna tell him you missed him, and you were pining and…"

"You do that and I'll tell your friends about your doll collection," I threatened, "pretty weird having a doll collection at fifteen, weirdo,"

"I don't have a doll collection," she pointed out, "Where did you get that?"

"You may not have one," I smiled, "but that doesn't mean I won't tell everyone you do."

"Cruelty," she exclaimed, "ok, let's make a deal, I won't go and tell everyone you were pining for Troy if you don't start rumours about doll collections,"

"But I was looking forward to the doll collection thing," I complained, "I was going to hide some old dolls in your room to make it look genuine and everything,"

"Brie, you're acting weird," Ellie decided.

"Say's the girl with a doll collection," I teased.

"Brie, seriously, what's going on?" she quizzed, "what's this about? Troy? Tyler? Me? Your friends? My friends?"

"You really wanna know?" I smiled; she nodded, prompting me to continue, "You know I told you about those girls Tyler met earlier?"

She nodded, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"I kinda, sorta, maybe showed them the picture we took of him cuddling a teddy bear Thursday night," I admitted, "they thought it was cute actually."

"No wonder you're hyper, you always go this mental when you do something that will really annoy Tyler," Ellie laughed, "Why though?"

"Because I don't like the way he treats you," I told her simply, glancing at Connor, wondering why he was so quiet.

"Thanks," She smiled, "I guess?"

* * *

**I know it's short, and I know it's different to the rest of the story, but as most of you know, my chapters depend on my mood, and I was in a crazy mood when I wrote it, and I wanted to build on the whole cousin relationship, but seriously people Christi Crawley, how great is that, can anyone actually say it five times fast?**

* * *

**REVIEW!!! ESPECIALLY ABOUT THE CHRISTI CRAWLEY THING.**


	33. Ellie's diary

**And after 29 days, she finally updates, you know, i tried putting this chapter up yesterday night, when it was 28 days, but the sight wouldn't let me, so i reset my alarm and got up 20 minutes earlier, because i can't but it up tonight, which is explained below.**

* * *

**Wow, Getting Through is Finally Getting Somewhere, how far it's going though, is up to you. I may rant at the end, there are references to me and my friend is this chapter, and Omg, I just reread the last chapter, and sorry for repeating myself but CHRISTI CRAWLEY, that still makes me laugh., there will be no updates tonight, with any story, which is awesome, although I have been neglecting my stories, I actually have a reason for tonight, I'm going to the Theatre, can anyone say theatre in French, ok, Leanne, shut up, rant at end.**

* * *

I sighed, finally giving up on sleep, it was only five AM, but there was no way I would return to even a light slumber, the sun was already coming up, and today was kind of a big day, for Ellie anyway, today was the day she saw what was left of her house, the day she got the last of her mom and brother's things, it's a lot for a fifteen year old to handle, but she is, not well though, I can see through her 'everything's fine' act.

We were going this morning, heading straight to the airport after, and leaving Florida in the early afternoon, if I got tired I could always sleep on the plane, not that we'd be on it for that long.

I slowly got out of bed, glancing around my room for something to occupy myself until my cousin got up, spotting the book on the floor by Ellie's bed I quietly picked it up, opening it even though I knew I shouldn't.

_Saturday February 3__rd__ 2007 – My (new) bedroom_

_Why is everything so hard? It was the funeral today, Why did they die and not me? Brent was always so much better than me, he should have lived. My uncle is trying to make me feel at home, but I'm not at home, my mom and my brother are dead, I have nothing left, why are they even bothering?_

I bit my lip, wondering whether or not I should continue reading my cousin's clearly personal diary

_Sunday February 4__th__ 2007 – Kitchen_

_Gabi's making pasta, no offence to her but she can't cook, maybe she's trying to kill me, no, that's ridiculous, I'm not that lucky, maybe I'll get food poisoning or something, but no death, why even bother cooking? Earth to Gabi, STOP COOKING, YOU'LL KILL SOMEONE, preferably me, I deserve to die after what I did._

It didn't take me long to realise how much I was learning from her diary, what had she done that she thought made her deserve to die, and why does she call me Gabi in her diary, it's always Brie out loud, which makes my brother call me cheese, I should make a deal with her sometime, I'll stop cooking if she stops Tyler from calling me Cheese.

_Tuesday February 6__th__ 2007 – Park_

_Ran away again, like I did yesterday, but once again, here comes the cousin cavalry, I know she's only trying to be nice and all but she can't care that much, before everything I only ever saw her twice a year, she keeps interrupting, and if I don't stop this writing now she'll see it._

So that's what she was doing when I found her that day at the park, I flicked forward a few pages, eager to know more sooner.

_Monday March 17__th__ 2007 – Gabi's room, snooping around, probably shouldn't be_

_School. What can I say? I met my cousin's boyfriend (or is it ex-boyfriend?). He's a bit of a moron, he thinks I care about his relationship worries, and he somehow managed to convince me to help him talk to her, because she's mad at him, and won't talk to him, and I'm a figment of her imagination, so guess what diary? Your written by an imaginary friend, how awesome is that. Diary of an Imaginary friend, that's your new name, get used to it. If books can get used to things anyway, I guess you can, I mean you seem to have gotten use to what I did._

Diary of an imaginary friend? I had no idea my cousin had well and truly lost the plot. (**Like the writer of this story!**)

_Tuesday March 18__th__ 2007 – Math Class, sooo boring_

_You know, I may think this Troy guy is a moron, but this is good chocolate, I'm lucky Mr. P hasn't noticed I'm eating in class… Again, I guess I'm lucky you're a diary, you can't tell Gabi I'm eating it, she told me not too, what's she gonna do with it anyway? Make a collage? She already said she's not gonna eat it, and I was never one to waste chocolate. School was freakish today, but then, it was school, what do you expect Have I ever mentioned how much I hate my name, Eleanor, it sounds so, well, freakish, I'm not a snob, my social worker calls me Eleanor, I pretend I don't know who she's talking to, it pisses her off, so funny._

I laughed at the randomness of the entry as I flipped over the next few pages.

_Wednesday March 26__th__ 2007 – My (not so new) bedroom_

_El, that's what I'm called now, Gabi hates it, but what doesn't she hate, and she made up with her moron boyfriend, the question on my mind is WHY DID I AGREE TO HELP HIM? He's gonna make her thick, or he'll hurt her again or whatever, maybe Tyler's right, the guy should stay away, wait, scratch that, Tyler's never right, he's a fish. _

"Not quite," I smirked to myself, " a fish would be easier to deal with than Tyler,"

_Thursday March 27__th__ 2007 – Homeroom __**(with Kashia) **__- Sadly_

_Sooooo bored!!!!!!!!!_

_**I second that motion.**_

_Shut up Kashia!!!_

_**Why?**_

Kashia… 

_**What? Just saying I'm bored too, in this weird little book thing.**_

Kashia will you just stop writing in this? 

_**Why?**_

_Because I don't want your Biro all over my diary._

_**A diary! Can I read it?**_

No! And stop writing in it, NOW! 

_**Why?**_

Kashia seriously, you're annoying me now, stop writing in my diary, use speech if you want to talk to me. 

Only if I can read it.

NO! 

_**Then I'll carry on writing!**_

No you won't How you plan 

I stared at the page for a minute, unsure what to thing of what I'd just read, before realising if Ellie's lost the plot, she must have friends that have lost the plot aswell (**Kerry**)

_Thursday March 27__th__ 2007 – Home at last_

_In case you didn't guess, I put you away, but now Kashia's got her cheap biro all over you, poor thing, nothing like my ink pen is it? But I guess there are more important things in life than biros and fountain pens. You know, sometimes I think I should just come out and tell people, you know, about starting the fire that killed my mom and brother, I killed them, simple as that, what other way is there to see it, I told Troy, dunno why exactly, but he wanted to know why I'd had this sudden personality change and I told him, he said it wasn't my fault, but just because I hadn't known, it'd still been my fault, I asked him not to tell Gabi, he said he wouldn't, but I don't know, he'd rather have her around than have me around, and if she ever found out that he'd kept something like this from her, well it'd be imaginary friend all over again, minus the reunion, she can't know, no one can know, no one except me and Troy, god it feels weird having a secret with my cousin's boyfriend._

I gasped, shocked as I quickly closed the diary and threw it back on the floor where I'd found it, she'd killed her mom and her brother, she'd killed them and Troy had known, he'd known and he hadn't told me, why would he think it was ok to keep something that big from me? Unless… No. But… No. He wouldn't, and I know for a fact she wouldn't, she's a kid compared to him anyway, how do I look her in the eye now I know this? How do I look him in the eye knowing that he kept it from me, I could have been in danger.

"Brie?" I heard Ellie's distinct voice, and looked up to see her now sitting form, "what time is it?" **(Not intentional, I promise)**

"Five forty-five," I told her, turning to look out at the brightening horizon.

"What's wrong?" she questioned, "you're acting weird,"

I didn't turn back to her, just shook my head; I didn't really know how to speak to her right now.

"Anyone else up?" she quizzed.

I shrugged, still refusing to face her.

She went silent; clearly thinking about why I was acting in a way she would perceive is strange.

"I'm gonna go out," I announced getting up and heading into the bathroom.

"At ten to six in the morning?" she questioned sceptically, "your dad will kill you,"

_I shrugged again as I locked the bathroom door behind me, I needed to think this through, to figure out who to confront first, the funny thing was, the main question in my head wasn't one of those, my main question was, 'how could he do this to me?'_

* * *

**Ok, this is where I would normally rant, but I'm hungry, and it's 7.40am, i have a trip today, so i gotta go, so I'll give you a longer rant in another chapter, if the story doesn't start going nowhere again, if it does, another story.**

* * *

**Review!!!**


	34. Brotherly Protection

**Only took me fifteen days this time.**

* * *

**Writers block is when i section of your brain turns to concrete, LOL.**

* * *

**Kerry is my stunt double, end of.**

* * *

**We had to put a banner up on our school fence today; we made it wonky, so funny.**

* * *

**In science, we done an experiment, and we got pink liquid, how awesome is that?**

* * *

**Everyone go read the His dark materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, I'm reading the amber spyglass now, it's awesome, way better than the film version of Northern Lights was.**

* * *

**Just so ya know, when I started this story, evil Ellie was the plan, it wasn't a random thought I had, she was always going to be the one that started the fire, important thing I want to know though: were you expecting it? If so, I need to improve subtlety, because the hints must have been too huge.**

* * *

**Ok, onto the story:**

* * *

"What's up with you?" my cousin spoke loud and clear as we walked up to what was left of her former home.

I didn't even look at her, just studied the damage she had caused. Hearing the screams of her mom and brother as they frantically looked for an escape, my imagination adding to the terror that must have been felt on that afternoon.

Before reading the diary, I thought I knew my cousin, but now all that was gone, I'd never had her down for a murderer, and although a part of me was relieved I finally knew the truth about what had happened, the rest of me hated knowing the truth, it was obvious my parents and brother knew nothing, and now I faced the bigger dilemma of figuring out whether or not I should tell them, after all, they do have a right to know, they too could be in danger if I kept quiet, but what about Ellie, what would happen to her, they wouldn't keep her around, that's for sure, they'd insist on getting rid of her, saying it was for my own safety, but she didn't need the horrible experience of leaving the comfort of what was now a home to her.

"Brie?" she questioned, "why aren't you talking? What's wrong? First you lock yourself in the bathroom at six in the morning, then you stop talking, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

I glanced at her, before turning back to the ruins, it was clear work had been done, it didn't look as if a fire had once been there, it was just an empty spot of land now, but I could still see the house clear as anything in the morning light, the image of burning building stuck in my mind, and although it was long gone, the putrid stench of smoke filled the air, tugging at my every sense to get noticed.

I felt her move away from beside me, making her way over to the rest of the group, her presence replaced by another.

"You haven't spoken all day," he pointed out, "that's not like you, something on your mind,"

I gave no response; no acknowledgement at all, just continued staring into vast space.

"Did I do something wrong?" he quizzed, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I shrugged it away, I didn't want him touching me, not after he'd betrayed my trust in such a big way, my cousin was a murderer, he knew, and he hadn't told me, he may as well have killed me himself.

"You want to talk abo…" he began, stopping as I turned and walked back to my parents and brother, they were the only people I could trust now.

"What's eatin ya, sis?" Tyler asked when I reached them, "this place getting to you?"

"I guess," I muttered, making it clear to him that it has nothing to do with where we were.

"You're pale," he told me, turning to our parents, "mom, dad, I think I'm gonna take her to the car, she don't look too good,"

I saw my mom look at me in concern, before nodding at Tyler and handing him the spare car keys that she always had with her.

"Ok," he started as we reached the car, "what is it?"

I started at him blankly, there it was, the question I had been dreading.

"Don't give me that look," he demanded, "I know that seeing what was left there isn't what's wrong with you, you've been miserable about something or other all morning, come on Gab, if you can't tell me, who can you tell,"

"It's…" I started, unconsciously deciding that I had to tell someone, "Tyler, it was her,"

"Her?" he questioned, "you need to be more specific,"

"Ellie," I choked, "it was her, she started the fire,"

He stared at me silently for a few seconds, obviously looking for signs of deception in my eyes, after a while he spoke, using a simple statement, "You're not lying,"

I shook my head, looking down at my feet.

"How did you find this out?" he continued shooting questions, "I'm guessing she didn't tell you, not exactly the kinda thing you drop in conversation,"

"It was in her diary," I explained, knowing that I was moments away from crying, but also knowing that my brother wouldn't care, "I know I shouldn't have read it, but I was bored and, if I'd have known I never would have, but Tyler he knew,"

"Who?" Tyler cut me off, I didn't answer, sensing realization dawn on him, "Troy, troy knew didn't he,"

I nodded, not really knowing what to say.

"I told you," Tyler insisted, "I told you he'd hurt you again, I guess I was wrong, because him knowing this, knowing this and not telling any of us, that was sick, we could have all died because he was too stupid to open his mouth."

I looked up at him, knowing that his comments were a bit harsh, but having the sense not to point it out to him.

"I was beginning to believe him, you know," Tyler explained, "when he said he loved you, I was beginning to believe him, this just proves that I was right the first time."

I looked over his shoulder, attempting to stare off into space, but meeting the approaching eyes of my boyfriend instead, he gave a weak smile as he saw me looking, a smile I didn't return, just seeing him made me thank God that my brother wasn't a violent person.

Tyler followed my gaze as he noticed where I was looking and turned around, watching Troy's advance as he began to clench and unclench his fists repeatedly.

"Do you like hurting her?" Tyler spat as he reached us, "or is that just a bonus in your sad little life?"

"No offence Ty," Troy replied, "but have you taken something, because I honestly have no idea what you are talking about,"

"We know Ellie started that fire," Tyler snapped, "and we know you knew,"

"What?" Troy exclaimed, "She started the fire! She said she did something bad but I didn't think it was that bad,"

I turned away as he gazed down at me, knowing that if I looked into his eyes for too long I'd automatically forgive him, and I couldn't let that happen.

"Wait," I heard him order, "you think I knew she started the fire, she didn't say anything about the fire, she said she'd done something bad, she didn't say what it was, if I'd have known I would have told you, you know I would have,"

"But it said in her diary…" I started, "she wrote that you knew everything,"

"Then her diary is lies," he insisted, "I thought we'd already gotten over the trust issue,"

"I do trust you," I defended, "but I trusted her too, why would she lie in her diary?"

"You believe him!" Tyler exclaimed, "How do you know for sure,"

"I know him Ty," I explained, "if he was lying I'd know,"

"I don't get it," Tyler admitted, "a minute ago you thought he'd put you in danger, now you're falling for his every word, and even if he didn't know everything, it doesn't matter, he should have told one of us as soon as Ellie told him she'd done something bad,"

"I know," I agreed, looking over his shoulder once again, "here they come,"

Both boys turned, watching the approaching figures of the rest of my family, before turning back to me.

"Do we tell mom and dad?" Tyler questioned, watching me curiously, "you're the one that found out, so it's your call,"

I sighed, continuing to watch them approach, knowing that what I decided now would affect my family for the rest of all of our lives.

* * *

**Minor cliffy, short chapter, but what's new?**

* * *

**Remember that this story is finishing at chapter 40, I'm off now.**

**REVIEW (five for next chapter, as with all of my stories)**


	35. An old enemy

**It's been a looooong time (53 days), and it's going to be an even loooooooooonger time after this, because of Making it right month and my GCSE exams, who knows what GCSE stands for, I do, it stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education.**

* * *

**My writers block has ended, for now anyway, personally I don't think it'll last long, I'll probably be stuck again tomorrow, not that it matters, tonight is IP if I get round to it, and then, after that, it's MIR for a month, with the odd Tribe update and a few HSM oneshots if I get bored of MIR, but all of my HSM full-length stories are on hiatus as of May 1st (tomorrow) excluding MIR.**

* * *

**EDIT- the next chapter of impossible perfection will be put up tomorrow after i finish skl, my keybord has stopped working so i cant finish it tonight as using this onscreen keybord is hard and annoying, making it right will be from the second of may till the first of june instead.**

* * *

East High seemed a lot quieter without Ellie, but it had been her choice to leave, a choice I had to accept, it didn't take her long to figure out that I knew, even though I decided not to tell my parents, and her behaviour rapidly changed after that, she, of course, told my dad that it was school she didn't like, so he transferred her to west, and a person that I thought was finally stuck in the past came back.

The return of El was inevitable after she found out that I knew, figured out that I'd never trust her again, started her own miniature reign of terror throughout the one true rival of my own school, unsurprisingly, no one seemed to mind her quick temper and tendency to blame the wrong people for everything, according to her, West High was completely different to East.

"How's things?"

I stopped, turning to my best friend, "Ellie isn't a thing, she's a person,"

"Why'd she leave anyway?" Taylor quizzed, "it was a bit random,"

"She wasn't happy here," I lied, "she didn't feel like she belonged here,"

"That's not the impression I got," my friend coaxed, "is that, the company line or something, I asked Troy and he said the exact same thing, word for word,"

"Weird," I evaded, deciding on an attempt at a subject change, "have you started that English assignment yet?"

"Started?" she asked, "I've finished it,"

"We only got it yesterday," I exclaimed, doing my best to seem shocked.

"So you've finished it too?" she stated in a questioning manner.

"Yep," I admitted, "I got bored last night,"

"I'd have thought you'd be hanging with Ellie," Taylor caught on and quickly restarted the conversation, "seeing as you don't see her at school any more,"

"I have better things to do than hang out with my cousin, and English happens to be a very interesting subject," I defended.

"Uh huh," she smirked, "seriously, what's going on with Ellie?"

"She stayed in Florida," came a voice from behind us as arms snuck around my waist, "Disney decided that she didn't like us and she was staying with her Uncle, because, apparently, he rules,"

"And the real answer is?" Taylor questioned, "and don't tell me that ego boy is telling the truth, he's already given me the answer about her not liking the school, and now she apparently stayed in Florida,"

"She's not in Florida," I told her, "she just didn't like the school that much,"

"It was all your fault," Troy told her, "she hated you, said you were too smart for your own good,"

"Does ego boy ever shut up?" Taylor asked me, mocking sweetness.

"Yes," I replied, "when he eats, and when he sleeps,"

"And when I kiss you," he grinned.

"Yeah," I agreed, "then too,"

"I got it," Taylor exclaimed, "Ellie left because you guys are too sickly sweet around eachother, she figured that if she has to deal with it at home she doesn't want to deal with it at school,"

"You know," I started, "that has to be it, she hates us, that does actually explain a lot,"

"She's not the only one," came a voice that hadn't been near me in the weeks since we had returned from Florida.

"She hates you too, Jess," I stated, "more than she hates us,"

"Wow," the other girl mock gasped, "you mean you can actually stand up for yourself,

"I have the sense to take myself out of trying situations that are likely to make me hit people," I elaborated, beginning to walk away, "seems that you are yet to gain any sense full stop,"

"No wonder you're popular now," Jessica called after me, "you've turned into everything I did, it just took you a little longer,"

"Me?" I spoke, near laughing, "I'm not popular, I have my circle of friends, but after them, that's it,"

"I've heard them," she announced, "almost all of the girls here want to be you, they all want to be your friend, just because you don't know it, doesn't mean that you're not popular,"

"I'll never be like you," I insisted, "you are the very definition of everything I have grown to hate, you are not the person I knew seven years ago, you don't even resemble that person, you're someone else, and I don't like this new person,"

"Déjà vu much?" Taylor asked from behind me, reminding me of the time I'd spoken almost the exact same words she knew I had used with Ellie.

"All Hail Gabriella Montez," Jessica snapped as I turned back to face her, "ruler of all things good, I think not, you're not as perfect as you lead people to think, and soon, you are going to be everything I was and more, and it'll be you ditching your friends, you know, I really thought that coming here would be a good thing at first, my cousin here never shut up about you when we used to e-mail eachother, and as soon as he sent me that picture of the lot of you, I knew who you were, I chose to come here, to apologise to you, but you didn't want to deal with me, the first time you saw me, you ran away, then all you did was avoid me, and it got annoying, you wouldn't let me apologise so I decided not to, I decided to get you out of my cousins life, and I will, you know I will,"

I felt hands automatically grip my shoulders, not knowing whether he was attempting to stop me running or attacking the girl.

"Let's go," he whispered, trying to direct me away from his cousin, "she's not worth it, don't let her get you mad,"

I nodded, speaking to him aloud, "you're right, she's not worth it,"

He smiled, letting go of my shoulders as he put his arm around me.

I turned just in time to see Jessica's face as we walked away. The unforgettable anger in her eyes that made me shift uncomfortable and turn away as she gazed, she'd hurt me once, she wouldn't think twice about hurting me again.

* * *

**There won't be another chapter up until June, but I was on a roll last night, I wrote 3 chapters for this story, including this one, so when my writers block comes back for it in June, I'll already have three chapters.**

* * *

**Review!! I'm moving onto Impossible Perfection, I actually have to finish that chapter.**


	36. Running Away

****

Exams are over, so i'm back, this was going to be Impossible Perfection, but this has to finish first, and with that and Making it Right both getting closer to their last chapters, finishing this off is mandatory, so if I can finish it by next week, then I can concentrate on finishing the other two and 2016 (my charmed story) after that.

* * *

**FUN FACT: As well as the name of this chapter, "Running Away" is also an awesome song by Midnight Hour that appeared in the season 2 Ghost Whisperer episode "The Curse of the ninth"**

* * *

**Ok, I am really too tired to rant so I'll just let you read.**

* * *

I yawned as I adjusted my position in an attempt to continue with the homework I was meant to be doing, but felt myself being pulled back as I did.

"Homework is boring," Troy whispered in my ear, "it should be banned,"

"I have to finish," I insisted, moving forward again and picking up my pen, "you have homework too,"

"You're more important, we should just talk," he decided before quickly adding, "or make out,"

I shot him a disapproving glare as I began to write, "you should do your homework,"

"So we're making out when the homework is done?" he quizzed, "that's an odd system, the making out should come first,"

"Shut up," I demanded, throwing one of his books at him, "English,"

"French is the language of love," he commented, "so we should be speaking French,"

"Je vous aime autant de que je ferai vous faire vos devoirs," I smirked, "Comme ça vous obtiendrez dans une bonne université,"

"What?" Troy asked, "did it have anything to do with making out?"

"I said," I sighed as I rolled my eyes at him, "I love you so much that i'm going to make you do your homework, that way you'll get into a good college,"

"You really are a little genius," he smiled, "my genius at that,"

"Sickening," we both heard Jessica mutter, and both turned towards the door, "what's she doing here anyway?"

"I'd rather have her here then you," Troy retorted, "why are you still here anyway? Shouldn't you be going home by now?"

"I'm staying," Jessica insisted, "get used to it,"

"Then you get used to Gabi hanging around," he replied, "she's not going anywhere,"

"I'm not?" I questioned, standing up and giggling at the look that had appeared on his face as he watched me, "I should go and finish this at home,"

"This is home," he told me, "so you can finish your homework here,"

"My home," I emphasised, "this is your home, and there's something I have to help mom with,"

"I should help too," he decided, "make sure you don't get hurt,"

"She probably would knowing her," Jessica put in, "such a Klutz,"

I glanced up at her for a second before turning back to him, "I'll be fine, it's only my house i'm going to, it won't even be that far, after being in hospital the last time, I don't want to go back, it was boring,"

"Boredom is overrated," he told me, "stay, it's safe,"

"Safety is overrated," I replied, "i'm going,"

"Call me when you get there?" he asked, "so I know you're ok,"

"Ok," I promised, "the second I get home, I'll be on the phone,"

"Unless she passes out on the street," Jessica spoke, earning her a glare from Troy, "What? She could,"

"Jess, there's a road outside," he told her, "go and stand in it,"

"I don't get you," she announced, "ditching your own cousin for a relationship that's very unlikely to work when you head off to college, long distance never does work, it won't be any different for you,"

"I'm gonna go," I told him, now feeling uncomfortable with being in the same room as Jessica, "bye,"

"Don't forget to call," he reminded me, "like you promised,"

I nodded as I headed towards his front door, sharing pleasantries with his mother as I walked past her and beginning to walk the short distance home.

**FIVE** minutes later I unlocked my front door and walked in, coming face to face with my parents and younger cousin as I did.

"It helps if you call when you're going to be late," Dad stated angrily, "Ellie never forgets to call,"

I stared at him for a few seconds before pushing past them and heading towards the kitchen, knowing that they were following me.

"Don't ignore me when i'm talking to you Gabriella," he warned, "this behaviour is unacceptable,"

I noticed my Mom shoot me a sympathetic look as dad continued ranting, unaware that I was paying no attention.

"We had some wonderful news regarding your cousin today," he continued, "you certainly wrecked it for us all with your little disappearing act, Ellie would never have behaved like that, we had no idea where you were,"

"Mom did," I finally spoke, "because unlike you, she's actually aware of the fact that I exist,"

"Excuse me?" Dad asked, clearly outraged, "You think I don't notice you, you're always screwing up, of course I notice you, you should be more like Ellie, her GPA is now 3.9, maybe it's her brains that keep her from behaving like an animal,"

I felt the tears burning in the back of my eyes, I'd known that by relationship with my father was somewhat strained, he blamed me for not doing anything about this so called bullying that Ellie was suffering at East, but I had no idea how little he really knew about me.

I stormed past him, readjusting my school bag on my shoulder, and up to my room before any of them saw me cry, only hearing Ellie's statement as I ran upstairs, "That was a loser move, Uncle Max,"

Locking my bedroom door behind me I got out my cell and made the call I had promised to make as I let the tears fall, knowing that he'd be able to tell I was upset whether I held back my tears or not.

"Home?" he asked as he picked up the phone.

"Yeah," I sniffed, "i'm home,"

"What's wrong?" He automatically questioned, "What's happened?"

"Nothing," I tried, "It's not important, I'll tell you tomorrow,"

"Don't shut me out," he sighed, "you can tell me, you know that, don't you?"

"Yeah," I assured through my tears, "I'll tell you tomorrow,"

"You better," he insisted, "If something's got you this upset I want to know what it was,"

"I'll tell you," I whispered just loud enough for him to hear.

"I'll have to tickle you if you don't," he warned, clearly attempting to cheer me up, "you know I will,"

"Tomorrow," I repeated, "it'll be easier tomorrow,"

I knew it wasn't true, knowing that my father was replacing me with my cousin was never going to get easier to deal with, but if he thought that it would, then he wouldn't worry as much.

"I have to go," I lied, not really in the mood to talk to anyone, "see you tomorrow,"

"Definitely," he replied in his worried tone, "Love you,"

"Love you too," I coughed, "Bye,"

I ended the call, putting my cell on my bedside cabinet as I lay my head on the pillow and cried, waiting for the pain to go away.

After a few minutes I heard a knock on my door, but didn't look up, I knew by the soundless approach and the light knock that it was Ellie, probably come to gloat.

"Brie, open the door," she called, "this is stupid, you have to let someone in, you'll die if you don't eat, open the door,"

I didn't reply, not caring about the plain truth in her words, I didn't want to eat, I wasn't hungry. I opened the drawer next to my bed and took out an old photo album, sitting up on my bed and cradling it in my lap as I flicked through it, stopping as I found the picture I was looking for.

"Brent," I sighed almost silently as I traced the picture of my dead cousin, "Why'd you have to go? You're the only one that ever cared no matter what, and now your sister's replacing me, replacing me in my own family, I don't know what to do, I need you so much right now, I know we lost contact, but that didn't stop me from caring, please, tell me what to do,"

I knew it was hopeless, Brent was dead, he couldn't answer me, but that didn't stop me hoping, praying that there was something he could do to help.

"Gabi," I heard my mother's voice a few minutes later, "You're father's sorry, please come out and eat something."

I didn't answer her, feeling a small sense of guilt at knowing I was punishing her for something that wasn't her fault, for something that she had no control over, but resenting that fact that she had said nothing to stop him, said nothing about my GPA being higher than Ellie's is, with everything that he blamed me for I didn't expect him to care, but I thought my mom had my back, but she'd proved how wrong I was.

"Gabi," she continued trying, "Your father didn't mean it, he doesn't think you're a screw up, he's just trying so hard to help Ellie fit in,"

I sat up, finally deciding on what to do, knowing that it was completely unfair to my mother, and that I had nowhere to go, something that would need to be sorted before anyone knew what I was doing.

I went over to my laptop, turning on instant messenger to see if the one person that could help me was on.

**TaylorM: **R U ok? Troy called me, he's worried bout u

**GAB14: **I'm ok, hav a prob tho

**TaylorM: **nething I can help with?

**GAB14: **I need sumwhere 2 stay

**TaylorM: **Wat's rong with ur house?

**GAB14: **dn't feel like I belong hre

**TaylorM: **What bout ur parnts?

**GAB14: **They dnt care, 2 preoccupied with my perfect lil cuz

**TaylorM: **I'm sorry

**GAB14: **Not ur fault dat i'm a screw up.

**TaylorM: **Ur not a screw up.

**GAB14: **Thats not wat dad says, cn u hlp me fnd sumwhere 2 go

**TaylorM: **BRB

**GAB14: **Ok?

**GAB14: **whre r u?

**GAB14: **Tay?

**TaylorM: **Cleared it with my parents, u cn come n sty hre 4 as lng as u need, gd thing my mom luvs u like a daughter I guess?

**GAB14: **Thnks Tay

**TaylorM: **4get bout it, it's wat friends r 4

**TaylorM: **Wnt me 2 come n get u?

**GAB14: **Tht wud b gr8, bck way tho, I dnt wnt them 2 no i'm going.

**TaylorM: **They'll freak, u'll b in so much trouble.

**GAB14: **The way things hav been, they wnt even notice that i've gne til tomorrow, c u in a few.

I quickly signed out of instant messenger and made my way back to my bed, pulling out the suitcase I was yet to put away from the Florida trip.

Setting it down on my bed I began to pack everything in the room that held any important to me, as well as most of my clothes, the rational side of me wouldn't have even considered this as an option, but the rational side of me was the one my father decided I no longer had, so I may as well just prove it.

I glanced over at my desk, considering it's contents before grabbing the laptop and putting it in it's case, deciding not to leave it behind, then threw my school bag over my shoulder, choosing not to let myself fail because of my parents mistakes.

I picked up the last of my school books, placing them in the bag that was on my back before taking one lasting look at the room, taking anything I had that was important to me before passing the bags off of my balcony and down to Taylor, whom was already waiting below.

* * *

**I'm leaving it here, because that place sounds like the end of a chapter, even though I still think it's too short, but hey, it's better than the nothing I had of this story two weeks ago, i'm actually getting somewhere, perhaps a little too late, seeing as there's only meant to be four chapters left after this, but seeing how it goes, I may have to make that ten.**

* * *

**There's this button on the bottom left of the screen, and it's awesome, because if you press it, you can tell me what you think, and with me, constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms, and I need at least six people to press this little button if I am to update the story again in the next week, because I have a very busy life, especially with the new youtube channel that my friend and I set up.**


	37. Revelations

**Next chapter, OMG IT'S NEARLY THE END.**

**I know, this is strange, it's me and a long chapter (kinda), I'm going to admit, the longer chapters don't have much to do with me, I just write them, the fact that they are longer is all down to Hazierox, whom I am co-writing a story with(link in profile), she makes me write longer chapters, because of the co-writing, and her chapters are long, so if mine weren't long it would look odd, and I'm officially used to writing longer chapters.**

**Seriously though, The Cobra, the co-written story with Hazierox, go read it, the link actually is in my profile, cos I literally just put it there.**

* * *

"Are you ok?" Taylor asked me for what must have been the tenth time that hour, "Don't say yes,"

"I'm fine," I replied, "I promise,"

"I told Troy you were here, is that ok?" she told me, explaining after noticing the confused look on my face, "Your parent's called him, they know you're gone, they'll call here soon,"

"It's ok that he knows," I answered, staring off into space, deciding to ignore everything else she had said.

"My mom will tell them you're here you know," she pointed out, "she won't lie to your parents about you, they'll be worried,"

"They don't care," I insisted, "Not since they got Ellie,"

"They do care, Gab," Taylor exclaimed, "your mom does at least,"

"She didn't defend me," I argued, "she let him say all of that stuff, about how I'm a screw up, how I'm always in trouble, neither of them care,"

"If they didn't care," Taylor began, "Why are they calling round trying to find out where you are?"

"If they cared," I retorted, "They'd have called here after Troy's because they'd know that this is the only other place I'd come, they haven't called here yet, they don't know me, they don't care,"

"Ok," Taylor sighed, feigning agreement in an attempt to play along, she didn't believe me, her parents cared about her, her sister and her brother, it'd be harder for her to even think that there were parents who didn't care what happened to their children.

We both looked up as the phone rang aloud through the house. I squeezed my eyes shut when it stopped, knowing that it had been answered even as I begged silently that it would be ignored.

The muffled voice of my friends mother drifted up, but it was impossible to make out what she was saying as she spoke.

The talking stopped abruptly after a few minutes, I heard the sound of footsteps as someone came up the stairs, jumping slightly when the door opened and I snapped my eyes open, noticing my friend watching me with a look of concern. I turned, looking up to face of her mother.

"You're mom's worried about you," she told me, "Taylor said your parent's knew you were here,"

"Mom," Taylor spoke, "If I'd have told you they didn't know, you'd never have let her come,"

"Of course I wouldn't have," her mother replied, "Gabriella, your father is on his way here, but, as I've told them, I'm not going to make you leave, I said you could stay as long as you need and I'm sticking with that, but you're going to talk to him, they were both worried,"

"I'm sorry," I apologised, "I know that I shouldn't have done this, but they don't care,"

"They do," Mrs. McKessie assured, "I know it doesn't seem like it all the time, considering all the run ins that I had with my parents, but they do care,"

"He doesn't know me," I pointed out sadly, "He doesn't know my GPA, he doesn't pay attention when I try to talk to him, he's more interested in what's going on with my cousin,"

"You should tell him you feel that way," She told me, "It's probably not intentional, he probably has no idea that your upset about that,"

"He'll make me go home," I sighed, "I don't think I can,"

"Like I said," she reminded me, "You can stay as long as you need to, I just wish you'd told me the truth, I'm not going to make you leave, and I'm not going to let him take you if you don't want to go, I can't ignore the fact that your parents have been basically neglecting you over the past few weeks, but I can't legally keep you from them, so you have to talk to them,"

"She can stay though?" Taylor asked, "Mom?"

"Yes, she can stay if she wants to," her mom answered, "like I've already said,"

Taylor nodded, turning to me, "Your house isn't far from here, he'll be here any minute,"

I nodded, standing up from where I was sitting, "Do I have to see him?"

"I promised," my friend's mother told me, "He's your dad, he loves you and he's worried, I don't have the right to keep him away from you,"

"We'll come down in a minute," Taylor decided, prompting her mother to leave the room, "You said they wouldn't notice, you've only been gone a few hours and they're panicking,"

"That doesn't mean they care," I insisted, "It just means they don't want child services turning up and taking Ellie because I'm missing,"

"If he didn't care, he wouldn't be coming," Taylor tried, "Look at how late it is, he cares so much that he wouldn't wait until tomorrow to see you,"

"It doesn't change the fact that he knows nothing about me now," I pointed out, "we used to share everything, now we hardly ever talk,"

"You could have that back if you both tried," She replied, "you just need to talk more,"

"I guess," I sighed, "but he's more interested in Ellie now,"

"Get your mom to talk to him then," she continued, "make an effort to know him, if he see's that you're trying, he may try harder,"

"GIRLS," her mom called up the stairs as we heard the sound of a car pulling up, "HE'S HERE,"

I glanced nervously at my friend as she nodded reassuringly, before walking slowly out of the room and downstairs.

I made my way to the living room door, my arms crossed against my body as the front door was opened and my father began a short conversation with Mrs. McKessie before looking over her shoulder at me standing in the doorway.

He quickly pushed past her, reaching me within two strides and immediately embracing me, stroking my hair like he used to do when I was younger.

"Don't you ever do that again," He sighed in relief as I remained unresponsive, "Do you have any idea how much you scared me? How much you scared your mother? Do you have any idea how we felt when we finally got into your room and found you missing, most of your stuff gone?"

His tight grip remained around me as he looked up, "I'm going to take her home, where are her things?"

"Upstairs," Taylor told him, "I could, get it all, if it's ok with her,"

"Of course it's ok," Dad stated, "She's my daughter, she's coming home,"

"I told her that she could stay unless she wants to go," Mrs. McKessie spoke up, "I can't break that promise, it's up to her,"

"I promised her mother that I'd bring her home," he replied, "she's coming with me, what is best for my daughter isn't your decision,"

"She's old enough to decide for herself," The older woman insisted, "ask her what she wants,"

"Gabi?" He asked, "You have to come home, ok, we can talk about everything tomorrow, just come home,"

"Ok," I agreed, not wanting to fight with him again.

His embrace tightened before he sighed again and let me go and spoke, "go and get your stuff and we'll leave,"

I nodded and followed my friend back upstairs and into her room.

"Are you sure about this?" she whispered to assure that no one else in the house heard, "You're really going to go back with him?"

"Like you said," I answered, "He's my dad, I have to,"

"My mom said you don't," she insisted, "don't make him force you to go,"

"He's not forcing me," I replied, "Taylor, he hasn't hugged me like that in years, he was worried, I overreacted, and I didn't give him the chance to talk,"

"I wouldn't have either," my friend admitted, "do me a favour, don't forgive him too easily,"

"I wasn't planning to," I told her, beginning to gather everything I had brought with me "just caring isn't enough, he still hurt me,"

"You sure you want to go?" She asked, "Mom said you could stay,"

"It's for the best," I smiled weakly, picking up the last of my bags and slowly exiting the room, my friend following behind me, "I shouldn't have done this, they're my family, It was stupid, I was stupid,"

"You weren't stupid," she claimed, "you wanted them to listen to you, by doing this, you've made that happen, that was smart,"

I nodded, not really agreeing with her as we reached the bottom of the stairs.

My eyes almost immediately locked with my father's as he took the bags that Taylor had been carrying, before he ushered me out of the door while thanking my friend's parents.

"Why did you do this?" he asked as soon as we were both in the car, "Are you trying to give me a heart attack, how many times have I told you how important it is that I know where you are, anything could have happened to you, do you have any idea how I felt when I went into your room to find it empty, I know you were upset, but running away was never the answer, it was stupid, you could have got yourself killed, you're smarter than this, why did you do it? I want to understand but I can't if you don't help me, have things really gotten that bad, do you really hate us that much?"

I sat staring out of the window, Taylor's words echoing in my head, she'd been right, making it easy for him wasn't an option, and me talking now would make him feel that I wasn't still upset and angry about everything.

"Angel," he sighed, using the nickname he hadn't used since Ellie came, "you have to talk to me at some point, I know that I upset you, but I'm still you're father and I nothing could ever stop me from loving you, I just want to know why you felt you had to hurt me and your mother like this, why you didn't just come to us and told us how you felt,"

I continued staring out of the window, trying hard to ignore his seemingly rational arguments. I wouldn't be uttering a single word to either of my parents, or Ellie until at least tomorrow.

I heard him sigh again as he gave up, driving me the rest of the way home in a silence I deemed bearable.

I turned to look at the house as he pulled up, ignoring me as he got out and began pulling all of my things out of the trunk as if there was nothing wrong and I'd just been on holiday.

Slowly I got out of the car, closing the door behind me and walking to meet him at the back. Our eyes met yet again for a mere second before he looked away at the sound of the front door swinging open.

I looked over at it to see my mother running towards me, pushing past my father as she embraced me.

"You are so grounded," she whispered into my hair, "do you have any idea…"

"I wouldn't bother," Dad interrupted, "She's not talking to me, I doubt she's talking to you either,"

I watched as my mom glared at him, it was obvious from her stare that she already blamed him, and, whether he was right or not, he wasn't doing himself any favours by talking.

She immediately took hold of one of my bags and led me inside, leaving Dad to bring everything else in, "You're ok?"

I nodded, knowing that if I didn't speak, she'd worry more.

"Can you talk to me if you ever feel like that again?" she questioned, "You can always talk to me, even if you can't talk to him, you know that, right?"

I nodded again. Before turning and beginning to walk upstairs, carrying with me the bag that my mother had brought in.

"Can I get you anything?" Mom called after me, "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

I shook my head without turning round, wanting to reach the relative comfort of my room before running into my younger cousin, knowing that she'd, without a doubt, have an opinion on everything.

I rolled my eyes as I heard her voice just before I got through the door to my room, "that stunt wasn't funny, you know, your parents were worried sick, what the hell were you thinking? Hell, were you even thinking? Why would you do this to them? Are you completely selfish?"

I stared at her, pleased as I learnt that my emotionless glare was scaring her a little.

"Think of someone other that yourself for a change," she continued, "I'd have never have done that to my mom or to Brent,"

"No, you just killed them," I snapped, turning quickly as I heard a sharp intake of breath from the stairs.

My father's eyes were staring at my cousin in shock, avoiding my gaze, I jumped back as he stormed across the hallway stepping in between us as I noticed Ellie glaring at me.

"Eleanor," He spoke, using her full first name, something I had never heard him do before, "you will go into your room, and you will stay in there until I call you, do you understand?"

I heard a door close from the other side of him before he turned to me, "How long have you known?"

"YOU KNEW," I shouted, forgetting that I wasn't meant to be talking to him, "YOU KNEW AND YOU LET HER STAY,"

"She had nowhere else to go," he excused, "besides, she was already here when I found out, that day she ran when Tyler upset her, she told me then,"

"AND YOU SAID NOTHING," I exclaimed, letting out all of my built up anger.

"Stop shouting," He demanded, "You have no reason to shout, stop it,"

"I thought I could trust you," I stuttered, obeying him, "you knew,"

"I couldn't just get rid of her," he claimed, "she needs me too, she needs her father just as much as you do,"

"Her dad's dead, that's not my fault, so why are you treating me like it is?" I demanded, watching his face as he sighed, "he is dead, isn't he?"

"No," he denied, "he's not dead, Gabi it was a long time ago,"

"What was?" she asked, "he's dead, mom told me he died,"

"Your Uncle Mark," Dad began, "Gabi he isn't Ellie's biological father,"

I stared at him in shock, waiting before replying, asking a question I feared I already knew the answer to, "Who is?"

"I am," he managed to get out, "It was a long time ago, and I regret letting it ever happen, but Ellie's mom and I, well, it's complicated,"

"COMPLICATED," I shouted once again, "SHE WAS YOUR BROTHER'S WIFE, AND YOU HAD MOM,"

"Gabi, quiet," he hushed, "Your mom doesn't know, telling her now would hurt her, and Helen is dead, she doesn't have to know,"

"What about Brent?" I snapped, "who was his father?"

"He's your Uncle's son," Dad stated, "My nephew, Ellie's half-brother, your cousin,"

"Do you have any idea how sick and twisted that is?" I asked, "My cousin's half-sister is also my half-sister, it's wrong, I don't even want to look at you, and there is no way that I'll ever lie to mom for you,"

"You won't tell her," he stated surely, "you're a mommy's girl and that would hurt her, you wouldn't do something that would hurt her,"

"Does Ellie know?" I changed the subject, "does she know you're her father?"

"Yes," He informed me, "her mother told her when she was around ten,"

"But you didn't tell me," I snapped, "You said you loved me,"

"Being Ellie's father too doesn't stop that," He insisted, "I do love you, I love you both, you're my daughters,"

"You're a liar," I sharply replied, "I HATE YOU,"

I turned on my heel, rushing into my room and slamming the door behind me, knowing that it would be safe to keep it unlocked, he wouldn't come in and risk making me more angry, he was too worried about me telling mom.

"Gabi," he called through the door, "this doesn't change anything, you were never in any danger,"

It was easy for him to say that, he wasn't the one living obliviously with a murdering arsonist, he wasn't the one that was kept in the dark about who said arsonist really was.

I lay down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling as he continued to talk through the door, unaware that no one was really listening.

I looked up soon after the voices stopped, pausing for a few seconds before taking my cell out of my pocket and dialling that all too familiar number.

"Hey," he yawned down the phone as he answered it, "You ok?"

"Did I wake you up?" I asked, both curiously and apologetically.

"No," he lied, "I don't sleep,"

"I woke you up," I stated, "I'm sorry,"

"Forget about it," he laughed, "You could call me at three in the morning if you wanted and I'd answer,"

"Thanks Troy," I smiled.

"For what?" he questioned, "answering the phone, that's kinda what you do when it rings,"

"Being there," I corrected him.

"Where was I?" He quizzed, "Be more specific,"

I giggled at his obvious attempt to cheer me up, knowing that Taylor must have called him when I left hers.

"I'm serious," I insisted, "Thanks, it means a lot,"

"Ok, serious, wait a second, I need to go and look for that part of my personality, I think it's sleeping," he answered, pausing for a few seconds before resuming, "Ok found it, so, serious, what kind of serious incident would you like to have an intellectual discussion about tonight,"

"You know Ellie?" I spoke, asking what must have been the most stupid question ever.

"The blonde kid from Disneyworld," he replied, "You're cousin, yeah I vaguely recall her,"

"She's not my cousin," I told him, letting my anger known, "My dad, he's… he's her dad too,"

"You mean?" he began.

"Yes," I confirmed.

"Whoa," he assessed, "That's kinda sick,"

"That's exactly what I said," I exclaimed, "How could he do this to mom? To me and Tyler?"

"Your dad," he continued, "he was always the last person that I ever thought would have an affair,"

"Me too," I admitted, I always trusted him, how can I do that now? He didn't just cheat on my mom, he lied to me and my brother,"

"And had another kid," Troy added, "You're half sister is you're cousin's half sister, and I thought my family was screwed,"

"Thanks," I retorted sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it like that," he defended, "It's just, you have to admit, that's not normal,"

"I know," I agreed, "I don't know how to believe anything that he says, anything that any of them say,"

"Don't," he stated, "I wouldn't believe them, not after this,"

"Promise me something?" I asked him, "Please,"

"Anything," he told me, "All you have to do is say what,"

"Promise me that you'll never leave me," I elaborated, "You and our friends, and my mom I guess, you're the only people who I can ever trust, I really need you more than ever now,"

"I'll never leave," he promised, "unless I die, because then I don't really have a choice, but I'm not planning on dying anytime soon, so you're stuck with me,"

"I can deal with that," I softly smiled, "just, don't ever leave me again, not like you did before, when Ellie first came,"

"You always gonna hold that against me?" he questioned, "It was like, a month and a half ago."

"I'm not holding it against you," I told him, feeling upset over the whole incident rushing back, "Why would you think that?"

"Hey," he sighed, "I was joking, I don't think you are, I want you to because I was a jerk but I know you won't, please don't cry,"

"I'm not crying," I claimed as a stray tear slipped down my cheek, "I'm not,"

"I know you are," he told me, "you don't have to lie to me, I don't want you crying either, so please, stop crying,"

"I'm not," I denied again, half-truthfully, "Ok, maybe a little,"

"No crying," he insisted, "not even a little, I don't like it when you cry, especially when it's my fault, because then I can't hit anyone over it,"

"You hit people when I get upset?" I asked, "You shouldn't do that, you'll get in trouble,"

"Stop crying," he repeated, "or I will have to leave the comfort of my room, come over to yours, tickle you into smiling, then beat myself up, which would be bad considering I have a game next week,"

"You do that," I replied, picturing him rolling his eyes ad I heard a creak from the other side of my bedroom door, "I should go, Mom's hovering outside the door waiting for me to get of the phone so she can come and interrogate me,"

"Are you going to tell her?" he asked curiously, "It could break you're whole family,"

"Yes," I told him, "she should know,"

"Ok," He accepted, "Call me back if you need me, even if you just want to hear my wonderfully amazing voice, everyone knows you love it more than anything else,"

"If you say so," I smirked, "bye,"

"Bye," he repeated, "don't forget that I love you in these five minutes before you call me back in desperate need of hearing my voice,"

"I love you too," I grinned, "Not so keen on your ego though,"

"Ten minutes?"

"Bye, Troy," I sighed to stop myself from laughing, "I have to talk to my mom, this is important,"

* * *

**You wanna know something weird? Well it doesn't matter whether you want to or not cos i'm gonna tell you anyway. When i put this chapter through edit, it was all underlined and in italic, but it wasn't in the actual document.**

* * *

**Ok, so the plot twist was in the original plan, but then I decided not to do it, which is why it came in so late, I put it back in, because I got bored of writing the story, and figured a plot twist would make it easier for me to finish, and also make everyone hate her father and Ellie more, hey, I hate them and I'm the one that created them, curse my imagination.**

* * *

**Don't forget to check out The Cobra, my co-written story with Hazierox, it's the only link in my profile.**

* * *

**Review, I really want to know what you think of the plot twist (and the chapter length)**


	38. Stuck with me

**Getting through is getting done, and soon it will be going, going, gone, so to make it quicker i'm going to ditch the rest of the authors notes that i'm too lazy to write.**

* * *

I looked up nervously as my mom walked into the room as soon as I'd ended the call, watching her as she came and sat next to me and began pushing my hair back behind my ears, I could tell that she too was nervous about talking to me, but her reasons were nothing short of worrying, wondering what had made me so upset that I left.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she finally asked, her eyes not leaving mine, "It could help,"

"I could deal with it mom," I answered, "I could deal with it until he forgot my GPA, I just snapped, it was easier when I thought he was sidelining me for my cousin, she had next to nothing and she needed something, but then he tells me that she's not my cousin..."

"Why would he tell you that?" she questioned, obviously confused, " honey he's probably just trying to lighten the mood,"

"No, mom," I refused, "he said... he said that..."

"What did he say?" she asked, now intrigued as she sensed my seriousness, "You're not going to be in trouble if you tell me, you know,"

"Mom," I began, feeling tears pricking in my eyes at the though of crushing her like this, "Mom, he said that Ellie... Mom he said that she's his, he said that it was a long time ago, but she knew, they both knew, mom, he lied to us, to Tyler, to everyone, mommy, i'm so sorry,"

I watched her as the information registered before she wrapped her arms around me, speaking only when I sent her a questioning look, "He admitted it to you?"

I nodded, shocked by her choice of words, words that suggested she had known all along.

"He said it, mom," I insisted, "he told me not to tell you,"

"I already suspected," she sighed in explanation, "the way he treats her, it's not like he's her uncle, I guess I just didn't want to deal with it,"

"What are we going to do?" I quizzed, as the second stray tear of the night fell down my cheek, "I don't know what to do,"

"I'm going to make him leave," Mom explained, "I'm going to make him leave, and take her with him, I know now, I know and now I can't live in the same house as him, you understand that, right?"

I nodded again as I began to cry harder, I'd known that her response would be something like that, but hearing it made everything harder to deal with.

I continued crying as she embraced me, repeating my father's earlier actions as she began playing with my hair lovingly, probably trying to calm me down at the same time.

After a few minutes she stood up, picking up my cell phone and handing it to me, "Call your brother and explain, i'm going to go and get rid of them,"

I nodded through my now softer tears, quickly dialling my brothers number as she left the room and headed downstairs.

"Baby sis," he greeted as he usually did after a few rings, sounding more carefree than ever, "Isn't it late there?"

"Yes," I sobbed in reply, still trying to control the tears that were consistently falling.

"Gabi, what's wrong?" he immediately asked, "Is everything ok at home? With that boyfriend of yours? Mom and dad? Ellie?"

"He lied," I stuttered, "Tyler, he... he... lied,"

"Gab, you're not making any sense," he explained, clearly worried, "You need to calm down, tell me what's wrong, who lied?"

"He...he..." I tried again, knowing it was pretty much useless when I was this worked up, "she... she's... he lied,"

"Who, Gabi?" Tyler quizzed desperately, "Who lied? I need you to calm down and talk to me,"

I shook violently as shouting erupted from downstairs, shouting that my brother obviously heard as he announced, "stay where you are, i'm catching the first flight home, ok? Everything will be ok,"

I squeezed my eyes shut as my brother hung up, the fighting downstairs continuing, I heard my cousin's bedroom door open, then footsteps on the stairs that made me jump off of my bed and crawl under it, cell phone in hand, but my bedroom door didn't open, the footsteps stopped down the hallway, obviously as they met my cousin.

Quickly I dialled the number I knew off by heart, holding the phone tightly to my ear as I held my breath, waiting for him to answer.

"You really don't want me to sleep, do you?" he joked as he greeted me, "Not that I mind, did you tell her?"

I sniffed, before answering, still trying to control my tears, "Yes,"

"Didn't go so well," he stated, "didn't think it would, do you want me to come over?"

"You're tired," I whispered, almost inaudibly, though I knew he'd hear me, "go to sleep,"

"I'm coming over," he decided, continuing before I protested, "don't bother trying to stop me, it won't work,"

"Ok," I mumbled, glancing nervously at the bottom of my bedroom door, the movements outside of it making me nervous.

"Good," he spoke, "i'm gonna leave now, i'm on my way ok, ten minutes tops, but i'm going to have to hang up the phone,"

"Ok," I repeated, responding to his words.

"You'll be ok?" he asked, "because if you don't want me to hang up, I won't,"

"You can't drive while using a cell phone," I reminded him, knowing that if I still put safety first then he wouldn't be as worried, "ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes," he agreed, "I love you,"

"I love you too," I smiled softly, "bye,"

"Bye," he answered, the short beep that followed marking the end of the call.

I curled up in a ball, watching my balcony doors from under my bed, not willing to go out into the rest of my room out of the fear that my father would come in, the fighting had subsided and the footsteps were no longer audible, but I hadn't heard them go down the steps and out of the house.

I turned, watching the main door of my room, listening to the sounds coming from below me, sighing slightly as the sound of retreating footsteps echoed through the floorboards.

I jumped slightly as I felt a presence behind me, rolling over again to come face to face with my boyfriend, whom was staring at me in clear amusement

"You know," he tried, "most people lay on the bed, not under it,"

I nodded, knowing that finding me there had mad him worry more, and that he was just attempting to lighten the mood.

"You coming out?" he questioned, his eyes not leaving mine.

I nodded again, not moving an inch.

"Come on," he coaxed, standing as I slowly crawled out to see him holding out a hand.

"I'm scared," I admitted, taking his hand and letting him pull me up, "What do I do? Tell me what to do,"

"Let me look after you," he stated, "that's all you need to do, just let me look after you, you and you're mom, if you don't want him near, I won't let him near,"

"You can't be there all the time," I whispered, hoping he wouldn't hear me, "no one can be,"

"Want a bet?" he quizzed, "If I want to be here all the time, I will be, kind of like a stalker, only not as creepy,"

I smiled slightly at his still obvious attempts to cheer me up, I replaced the smile with a sigh as I sat down on my bed, unsurprised when he immediately sat down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder protectively.

"What if she takes him back?" I questioned, "she says she loves him, they're married, she could let him come back,"

"If she does, she's stupid," he evaluated, knowing immediately whom I was referring to, "and I'll take you away from it all, I promise, if it gets too tough, as soon as we finish high school, and before college, I'll take you away, just me and you,"

"You'd get the third degree from Tyler," I pointed out, knowing my older brother would be against the idea, "and he'd tell me that you're only after one thing,"

"Why would I be after one thing when it comes to you?" he asked, "Why one thing when you're all but the basis of my world,"

"I'm what?" I quizzed, knowing what he meant but wanting to hear it again.

"Oh, I didn't tell you my conclusion did I?" he replied, continuing as I shook my head, "Yesterday, I came to the conclusion that every single thing I do in my life must revolve around you,"

"Why?" I continued, wanting to keep the subject off of everything that was happening.

"Because you're perfect," he claimed, "and perfect people are rare, you're the only perfect person in existence,"

"Troy," I whined, " You're future's meant to be the most important thing right now, you should be thinking about that,"

"A." he began in response, "you're more interesting than thoughts of college, and B. You are my future, so I am thinking about it,"

"How can you be so sure of that?" I replied, watching him curiously, "You could meet someone in college,"

"I don't need to meet someone in college, "he stated, smiling at me, "I have you, I don't need more than that,"

I smiled in reply, me demeanour quickly changing as I jumped at the sound of footsteps on the stairs again.

We both turned quickly, his grip on me tightening as the footsteps stopped outside and the door slowly opened.

I sighed as my mother walked in, clearly not surprised to see my boyfriend there with me.

"They've gone," she told us, coming and sitting the other side of me, "honey, he said he still wants to see you, but they won't be coming back for a while at least,"

"I don't want to see him, mom," I informed her, "not him, not Ellie, ever, mom, I don't want to ever see them again,"

"You don't have too," Mom assured, "I'll keep them away, what did Tyler say?"

"I couldn't tell him," I admitted, looking up at her, "I was crying so hard, he said he's coming home,"

"He shouldn't do that," she sighed as a dropped my head on Troy's shoulder, "he should stay at college,"

"Mom, he's worried," I answered, "It's my fault he's coming home, I was crying too hard, he couldn't understand me and he got worried, I should have just kept quiet,"

"No," Both my mother and boyfriend insisted, before she continued, "You did the right thing, what your father did, no matter how long ago it was, it wasn't your fault, he put you in a difficult position by telling you, and I can't forgive him for that, i'm glad that you told me, it was the right choice, your brother will agree,"

"But he's flying home because I scared him so much," I continued to excuse, "If I hadn't have called him..."

"I would have and he'd have came anyway," Mom interrupted, "None of this is your fault, you didn't ask for any of this,"

"She's right, Gab," Troy put in, "this wasn't you, it was your dad, don't blame yourself for it,"

"We're going to be ok," Mom insisted, "The four of us,"

"Four of us?" I asked, confused by her comment.

"Me, You, Tyler," she told me, "and Troy, i'm guessing he's not planning on going anywhere,"

"Nope," he confirmed, tightening his grip around my shoulders, "You're stuck with me,"

* * *

**Ok, the next Chapter is the LAST actual chapter, then there's the epilogue, then no more Getting Through, and I know I shouldn't say this but YAY, I had such bad writers block with this story, and I wasn't enjoying writing it, hence the huge gap between updates because I didn't want it to be completely suckish.**

**I'm not starting another story to replace it, because I have like, 5 others, and I have school (and Greys Anatomy), so it'd be a stupid idea.**

* * *

**Anyways, Review, I like them, they're my friends, they sing songs to me when I check my email, ok, that could be the music player on my phone but whatever, I need the drive to finish this story.**


	39. Moving On

**Despite my ill health (I've just recovered from a fever and laryngitis), I wrote this chapter, which was meant to be up like, over a week ago, but I started the IP epilogue, because I want it to be awesome, which kinda stopped me from finishing this, but I've decided that now I'm gonna try and write that in conjunction with the remaining chapters of the story.**

**But yeah, I'm alive, and on the verge of completing this story.**

**You owe this chapter to hsmfancrazy, who reminded me to finish it by asking me to update.**

* * *

"You ok?" Tyler quizzed, watching me curiously as a nibbled at the toast that he, my mom, and my boyfriend were forcing me to eat.

I nodded, not responding aloud as I momentarily glanced at him, looking straight back at the plate after seconds has passed.

"Gab," I heard Troy begin from behind me, "if you don't eat, I'll hide your homework, and all your books,"

"I'm not hungry," I complained, putting the toast down and leaning my chin on my hand as I propped my elbow up on the table.

"You haven't eaten much in three days," he told me, coming around next to me and sitting down, the worried glint in his eye clearly distinguishable, "the guys have even noticed it at school, if you won't eat it for you, can you eat it for me, for everyone that loves you?"

I frowned, picking up the toast again, knowing that he wouldn't give up.

"Good girl," he smiled, softly kissing my temple, "don't forget to chew,"

"I'm not four," I complained, turning to him.

"If you were," he began, smirking in an attempt to cheer me up, "Us being together would be kinda creepy,"

I looked back at my brother as I heard him laugh, watching as he waited until he swallowed his own toast before speaking, "that is so true, and I really would have killed you by now,"

I frowned again, finishing off the toast before standing up, "we have to go, we'll be late,"

"Yes ma'am," Troy joked, before grabbing my arm as I began to leave the kitchen, "don't forget money for lunch,"

"I won't need it," I claimed, unsuccessfully trying to stare him down, "honestly."

"True," he agreed, shocking me for a short time before continuing, "I can buy you lunch, that way you'll feel obligated to eat it, how smart am I?"

"Not very," I frowned, a little angry at myself for not figuring that we wouldn't let me skip lunch.

"Tyler thinks I'm smart," he insisted, "don't you Tyler?"

"Yeah I think that's a pretty good plan," my brother agreed with him, "make sure she actually does eat it and doesn't just hide it in her pockets or something,"

"Once again, I am not four," I refuted, still a little freaked out by the fact that my brother and boyfriend were actually getting on, something I should have got used to over the past days.

"Then stop acting like it," Tyler smirked annoyingly, "or we'll have to take turns force feeding you,"

"I'm ok," I insisted, trying to assure both of them as I left the kitchen, followed closely by Troy, "what were you doing here before breakfast anyway?"

He went quiet, avoiding my gaze as he took my hand, opening the front door before leading me down the path towards his truck.

"Troy?" I frowned, "Answer the question,"

"Promise you won't get mad," He responded, pouting like a child in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

"I promise," I agreed, laughing slightly as he held out the little finger of his free hand, before copying his gesture, "Pinky promise,"

"Good," he grinned, happy that I had returned the childish gesture, " I was here because..."

I shot him a stern look as he paused, opening the door of the vehicle we had now reached.

"Tyler called me yesterday," he admitted, "he's worried about you, we both are, when you weren't eating at school I thought that you'd at least be eating at home but he said you wasn't much, so we decided it'd be better if I was here, so we can both get you to eat,"

"You're ganging up on me," I stated, only half-serious, before hugging him and continuing, "you don't need to worry, I'm ok, and I am eating, just, only when I'm hungry, I promise I'm not starving myself,"

He watched me carefully, clearly looking for signs of deception, a few that I was probably showing due to the small lies, I was eating, but not when I was hungry, only when my mother and brother forced me to, something that he didn't have to know.

"I'm still buying you lunch," he evaluated, allowing me to climb into the truck before closing the door, walking round and climbing in next to me, "and I am willing to force feed, it's for your own good,"

"You wouldn't," I claimed, knowing full well that if he was as worried about me as he seemed, he would.

"Not if you eat everything without protesting like the big girl you are," he taunted playfully, a smirk gracing his face as I frowned at him, "the pout will not be working today, just thought you'd like to know before you tried, don't want you wasting your time,"

"You're being mean," I tried pouting anyway, frowning again as he chuckled, starting up the truck and turning to the road ahead.

"I'm doing what good boyfriends do," he decided, picking up my hand and kissing it before letting it go again and placing his own hand back on the wheel, "I'm looking after you,"

"I can look after myself," I argued softly, knowing that right at that moment, it didn't seem like it to him, "I'm not completely incompetent,"

"I never said you were," he chuckled, "but it's my job to look after you, and beat up people that upset you, keep you safe, all part of the job description,"

"Who's paying you then?" I questioned, now smiling myself, "Jobs pay,"

"You pay me with your love," he answered victoriously, his pride in his answer would have been obvious to anyone that heard it.

"Cheesy," I giggled, turning and looking at him, "you better not let the guys hear you say that,"

"Who cares what they think?" he quizzed, his eyes still fixed on the road, "they're not hot like you,"

"Is it possible for you to go a day without complimenting me?" I asked curiously, watching his smile grow before he responded.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"What if I dared you to?"

"I'd go with the forfeit,"

I grinned again, forgetting my annoyance at the fact that he was going to make me eat lunch whether I wanted it or not.

We fell into a comfortable silence for the rest of the journey, although I noticed his quick regular glances towards me, he always did that.

"What are we doing after school?" he questioned, pulling into the school's parking lot as we arrived, "anything you want to do?"

"I have to be home for dinner," I told him, knowing that he understood why, "but before that we could hang at yours or something,"

"Mine?" he replied sceptically, "with Jessica there?"

"I'm gonna try and get on with her," I explained, smiling at his curious, questioning look, "It's better for you that way, and you've done so much for me and my mom over the past few days, I figured I can do this one thing for you..."

"You don't owe me anything," he interrupted, "Jessica hurt you, you don't have to forgive her for me,"

"That was a long time ago, she was young, she didn't know any better," I reasoned, trying to get him to agree with me, "we were friends once, so we can at least get along again,"

"My place it is then," He relented, his expression unreadable, "you do realise my mother will smother you, it's been a while since she last saw you properly, she actually interrogated me about it the other day, says that when she gets home you're always just leaving or already gone,"

"Your mom's nice," I replied, "it's actually kinda good to know that she doesn't hate me,"

"No one could hate you," he claimed, "you're too perfect,"

"I am not," I refuted, "Nobody is perfect,"

"So you're saying, if I started calling you nobody..." he began pondering.

"I'll stop talking to you," I finished for him, knowing that wasn't what he was intending to say.

"Come on," he sighed playfully in response, opening the truck door and alerting me that we had stopped, "let's go and learn something useless,"

"It's not useless, Troy," I responded, "it's stuff we need to know,"

"All I need to know," he announced, "is that you are safe and happy, also how to improve my jump shot, but that's about it, school can't give me that, can it?"

"You need to know more than that," I claimed, letting him wrap his arms around my shoulders as we walked, "for the future, so you can have a career, and get paid, so you can look after your family or whatever,"

"You want a family then? Kids and all that?" he asked, stopping and turning me to face him, "Your dad hasn't put you off for life?"

"What?" I questioned, confused by his words, "I don't understand,"

"You said take care of my family," he reminded me, "I can't see myself with anyone other than you, that means you have to be a very important part of that family,"

"Oh," I responded, no longer confused, just curious as to why he thought about things like that already, "well, I don't know what I want along that route yet, kids? Probably someday. You think about that?"

"I never used to," he admitted as we resumed walking, "and then there was you, you made me think about it,"

"I did?" I continued quizzing, unsure how to react to this revelation.

"I'm not saying right away," he assured me as we entered the building, "but I'm not planning on ever letting you go, not again, so at some point, yeah, I want us to have a family of our own, but if you don't want kids, that's ok with me, we'll get a dog,"

"When I was younger, I had this dream about what my life would be like after college," I informed him, "of course, some things have changed, because I certainly don't want to be stuck married to Carter Bishop from my third elementary school now, but it was nice, you know, to have that dream, I guess I just gave up on it when I got older, we were moving around so much I never got the chance to meet anyone, then we came here and I met you, and before the whole thing when Ellie first came, I started thinking that maybe I could still have everything I wanted,"

"We don't have to talk about this now," he laughed, hugging my tighter, "we can think about it all we like, but talking about it can wait unless we really want to, we have college to get through first,"

"Don't talk about college," I demanded, "I don't want to think about college, do you know how far away we'll be from eachother,"

"You definitely going to Stanford?" He quizzed, rubbing my arm gently in an attempt to calm me down.

I nodded, turning away from him, I knew that he hated the idea of being apart as much as I did, "That's always been the plan,"

"Wherever you go..." he whispered in my ear, "I follow."

"What do you mean?" I asked, looking back at him.

"I have been given basketball scholarships to quite a few college's," he started explaining, "I decided to go to the college that's nearest to wherever you'll be, can't have some other guy sweeping you off your feet now, can I?"

"You know that would never happen," I began reasoning, not wanting him to give up a place at a better college for me, "and you shouldn't give up a better place to be nearer to me,"

"The best place for me to be, is near to you," he decided, "so no arguments, you're not going to change my mind,"

I gave up, making a mental not to bring it up again at some point soon, "I wonder where Tay is,"

"Homeroom?" he suggested, "she could have got here early,"

"Unless we're late," I replied, "she's normally at her locker, but she wouldn't wait if we were late,"

"We're not late," he answered knowingly, "I'd never let you be late,"

"You're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, you worry too much,"

I frowned at his comment, but was stopped from refuting it as a group of girls approached us.

"How's Ellie getting on now she's turned traitor and transferred to west?" One of the girls interrogated me perkily, "is she ever planning on returning our calls?"

"How would I know?" I responded, annoyed by the intrusion, but vaguely recalling these girls as Ellie's apparent friends, "I don't exactly talk to her,"

"We figured since you're cousins and all," One started, letting another continue for her with, "and you live in the same house and everything,"

A third opened her mouth, but I interrupted before she got the chance to speak, "No, I don't live in the same house as her anymore, Ellie's gone, ok, and I don't care if I see her again or not,"

"What happened?" A fourth girl quizzed, "Did something bad happen? Did she go to live with her other uncle?"

"She doesn't know," Troy snapped at them loudly, "None of us know where Ellie is, and I for one do not particularly care, if you want to see her or whatever, figure it our yourselves and don't bother us with it,"

The four of them quickly retreated, obviously shocked by his outburst, he rarely behaved like that.

I smiled as he turned to me, calm again as he reclaimed my hand, "lockers then homeroom?"

I nodded, allowing him to lead the way, his grip tight enough to ensure he didn't lose me in the

crowded hallway.

He took me over to our group of friends as soon as we reached his locker, both of us noticing that not all of them were present.

"Hey little sis," Chad smiled slightly as we approached, quickly hugging me before returning me to the arms of my boyfriend as he continued, "feeling any better?"

That was typical him, he had no idea what was wrong, all my friends knew was that it had something to do with my family, and he wasn't pushing to find out like some of the others had been, he was worried, he wouldn't stop asking if I was ok, but they were all worried, Troy had become more protective of me over the last few days than he ever had been before, Taylor had been repeating her mom's offer, insisting that I could always go back and stay with them, they'd all been rallying around, even Sharpay had been questioning nearly everyone who tried to talk to me, turning most of them away point blank.

"A little," I answered Chad's question truthfully, before asking him one of my own, "Where are Tay and Kelsi?"

"Tay went to sort out something for a decathlon meeting or something," Chad replied, his concern level dropping slightly as I changed the subject, "Kelsi said something about a song, I wasn't really listening,"

I smiled, much to the surprise of my friends and boyfriend, as I noticed that despite my now broken family, I still had so much to be thankful for, friends, who had always and probably would always be there for me, an overprotective boyfriend that would do just about anything for me, an overbearing mother giving advice when I needed it, and a brother who was constantly looking out for me.

My friend's typical comment had reminded me that not everything had changed, that some things could still be relied on, and it was this that alerted me to the fact that I did not need my father, that I didn't need Ellie, I had what I needed with me, and I knew none of them would ever leave.

* * *

**Whoo, last ACTUAL chapter done, now I just have to write the epilogue, honestly I have no idea how long it will be till that's done****, IP and MIR have to be updated, and I have a oneshot that I started in like, July, that I should probably finish.**


	40. Epilogue

**Ok, so this is the last ever chapter, the epilogue, the finale of the story, I shall be writing it no more, and I can concentrate on the other stories. I have no idea what I'll write after I finish them, but I'll think of something, even if it's completely random. So, enjoy, it won't be updated again, I may eventually do a sequel, but it's a very slim chance because of the terrible writers block I had with this, plus, I think this finishes it nicely.**

* * *

"Good day?" I called to my fiancé as he walked through the door of the almost perfectly located apartment we had moved into just months ago at the start of our final year in our separate colleges.

I felt his presence behind me almost immediately, felt his hands on my shoulders as he began massaging them without having to be asked.

"It was ok," he responded, "Would have been better if I hadn't been away from you for all of it,"

"We have the rest of the night," I reminded him, leaning back as he continued to massage my shoulders.

"Thank god for that," I felt his momentary smile, but heard him sigh slightly before he commented, "You're tense,"

I nodded, knowing that disagreeing with him wouldn't help me, besides, honesty was important, "I have so much to do, I guess it's all just stressing me out,"

"Concentrate on college ok," he suggested, "I don't want you falling behind, I can always do more around here if you need me to, anything you need ok?"

I yawned, moving forward to stand, turning to see his hands drop before walking around the couch and hugging him, "what about you? You have college too"

"No worrying about me," he insisted, returning the tight embrace, "I'll be fine, I can handle it, just make sure you're doing ok,"

"You do so much for me," I evaluated, "Way too much, you should do more for you."

"And do less for you?" He smiled, "You're too stressed as it is, and hey, you can do as much or as little as you want to do, everything other than college, even the wedding, can come later, when the pressure's off, we need to give your brother a chance to give me the old 'you hurt her I'll kill you' threat as well, so really, everyone benefits from me not wanting you stressed out."

"Tyler does like you, you know," I responded, pulling away just enough to look at him, "he just doesn't show it, he's my big brother, he's always going to act like he hates you, it's what he's there for, when he does give you that famous threat, he'll also tell you you're not good enough for me, but he doesn't mean it, he's just being him,"

"He's looking out for you," Troy responded, "and that's more than fine with me,"

I pulled away fully, taking his hand as I went to sit down again, resting my head on his shoulder as soon as I could.

"I don't feel like cooking," I decided, sighing, "but we gotta eat, what do you want?"

"You," he teased, kissing my forehead softly.

I frowned as I corrected him, "to eat!"

"If you insist," he answered, playfully acting downcast, "I guess we can get takeout, we haven't in a while, and I don't see why you should be cooking if you don't want to,"

"You're too nice to me," I commented, neither of us moving even an inch, "way too nice,"

"Of course I am," he responded, "I like to see you happy, I love how you smile when you get your own way, it's why I give in so much,"

"It means a lot," I sighed as the memories came back, "it would have been so easy for you to just walk away, to just leave when everything started kicking off, when things started getting difficult, with my family and everything, but you didn't, you stayed, and I honestly don't know what would have happened if you'd gone, I'm not sure I would have coped, it was all really hard, and sometimes I wonder, maybe it would have been better, for you, I mean, if you had left,"

"No," he refused as I felt his grip tighten, his protective instinct taking over as soon as he sensed the change in my feelings, "There is no way on this earth that leaving you would ever have been better for me, it would have made my life a hell of a lot harder, you know how much I worry about you now?" He paused, waiting for me to nod before continuing, "I'd have worried twice that if I'd left you, I'd be forever wondering if you're ok, trust me, this way is better, for both of us,"

His words made me feel a little guilty for bringing it up, I'd known he wouldn't like or agree with my suggestion, but I'd promised him, as had he promised me, very soon after everything with my dad that I wouldn't keep anything from him, that no matter how much something would hurt him, I'd tell him, any doubts or worries, he wanted to know, so I replied simply with the truth, "I do trust you,"

"I know," he sighed, kissing my forehead lightly again, "Of course I know, I trust you too," he paused, making sure I was listening, "almost as much as I worry about you,"

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you not to worry about me," I remarked, smiling as I settled further into his arms, "I'm not going to fall down a drain or anything, you don't have to always be there to catch me, I'm sure I can manage on my own occasionally."

"I seem to remember a time that we were lucky I was there to catch you," he smirked, laughing slightly as I scowled at him, "just stating a fact. Besides, I like to be there to catch you, but just to be on the safe side, when I'm not around, don't go near any drains, I honestly don't want you to fall down one,"

"I'm not that clumsy," I refuted, my belief in my words backing me up, "You're just way too overprotective,"

"Of course you're not clumsy," he agreed, "you've just developed a tendency to fall over things,"

"You know what?" I questioned, already smiling and what I was using to follow the question, "maybe I will make dinner, I can poison you with it,"

"If you did that, who'd stop you from falling down drains?" He laughed in response, "you need me, if only to stop you dying,"

"I need you for more than that," I admitted, turning my head slightly to look at him, "and you know it,"

He smiled as I looked up at him, the smile quickly turning into a smirk as he spoke, "Are you sure I can't have you for dinner?"

"I'm completely sure," I giggled at his persistence, "What would your mother say if she heard I wasn't feeding you properly, with actual food?"

"She'd have a go at me for not feeding myself,"He responded, "seriously, she loves you more than she loves me, in her eyes you can do no wrong, which is actually true, you can't,"

"Does sucking up come naturally for you, or do you have to work on it?" I quizzed happily, watching his expression as the smile replaced the smirk.

"When it comes to you," he replied simply, "It comes so naturally I hardly believe it myself,"

I opened my mouth to answer, but was cut off by the ringing of the phone, leaving me to watch as Troy picked it up.

"Hey," He quipped,, pausing to wait for a response before continuing, "Oh, hey mom, yeah, she's right here, are you two up to something?"

I laughed again at his accusatory tone, pulling away from him before snatching the phone off of him, and sticking my tongue out at him as he turned to complain.

"Hi," I greeted brightly, still watching his face, "he's worried now,"

"He still has no idea I'm guessing," Lucille answered, "Are you sure you don't want to tell him?"

"He'll know soon enough," I smiled, "I'll tell him as soon as I know it got there ok,"

"What are you two planning?" he whispered, watching me as I smiled secretively in reply.

"This is big though sweetie, are you sure you don't want him to help?" Lucille pointed out through the phone, "He'll want a say you know, he'll want quite a few traditions kept,"

"I know," I admitted, "I'll tell him soon, but I'd rather sort out some details before he knows, plus, his face is a picture right now, I kind of wish I had a camera, but yeah, I'll tell him as soon as some minor details are sorted, he's going to be involved in the major decisions,"

"What am I going to be involved in?" He questioned from beside me, knowing I wouldn't answer.

"You want to tell him tonight then?" Lucille asked, "The dress arrived this morning, it's gorgeous, he's going to love it, and he'll probably be gloating to Chad that he convinced you to wear white, which I really don't think is a big deal sweetie, you always look perfect in his eyes,"

"Really?" I quizzed excitedly, "It's there? It's ok?"

"It's beautiful, sweetie," she assured me, "It's perfect, so I would say now is the time to tell him,"

"I will," I assured her, "I'll tell him tonight, he's started sulking now because he thinks we're hiding

something from him,"

"We are, sweetie," Lucille laughed, "I'd better let you go then, let you tell him so he can smother you,"

"Ok, bye," I smiled, listening as she hung up the phone before turning to Troy.

"What are you hiding, missy?" he pouted as he reached for me, pulling me back into his arms.

"You know this?" I questioned, holding up my left hand and gesturing towards the engagement ring.

He nodded, "Yes, I put it there,"

"I couldn't help myself," I bit my lip, watching him warily, he sent me a questioning glance, making me continue, "that last time we went to visit your parents, and I went shopping with your mom, she took me to the place that she got her wedding dress, and I know I said it'd be better if we waited, and it would, but I got carried away, and well, I kind of have a dress now, so even though, like a said earlier, I am eternally grateful that you are willing to wait for me to prevent stress or whatever,, but we could start planning now, that part doesn't have to wait right?"

The grin on his face gave away his feelings immediately, but the slight seriousness also in his features worried me before he spoke, giving me the reason for it, "This isn't going to stress you out more is it?"

I shook my head before kissing his cheek softly.

"And if it all gets too much and it stops being as fun as you're so clearly finding it now, you'll tell me," He interrogated, the smile still on his face.

"Yes," I responded truthfully.

"Then I'd better start making appointments," He answered, his arms still tight around me.

"Tomorrow," I told him, "it's late,"

"It's six," He smirked, running his fingers through my hair, "it's not late, it's practically still noon."

"A lot of places close for business at five, it can wait until tomorrow," I insisted, "do you have a class?"

"One, in the morning," he told me, "Some of us aren't lucky enough to have the whole day off, but after that I'm yours for the rest of the day,"

"Wake me up before you leave," I requested, "Please."

"No," he refused, "I'm not going to wake you up when you don't need to be up."

"But I want to see you before you leave," I complained, pouting at him, "Please."

"Stop it," he chuckled, leaning down to kiss my forehead lightly, "I don't want you convincing me, I want you to sleep,"

I frowned, playfully turning away before grinning in order to hide it from him.

"Hey, don't be mad," he rushed, "Don't be mad because I want you to get a decent amount of sleep,"

My giggle gave me away, and he immediately started tickling me, as he spoke, "that was not nice."

I turned again, facing him before answering, "Promise me you'll wake me up?"

"I'm not promising anything," He replied truthfully as he stopped tickling, wrapping his arms back around me, "If you're awake, you're awake, but I'm not waking you up,"

"Do you not want to have a proper morning greeting tomorrow?" I quizzed, smirking as his face fell, "Can you really go through a whole morning class without one?"

My smile grew as I saw him gulp before speaking, "I guess I could..... just before I leave though.......not too early,"

"Promise?" I questioned triumphantly, "before you leave,"

"Ok, ok," He relented, "I promise I will wake you up before I leave for class,"

"Yay," I cheered, noticing the smile on his face, "I knew you would,"

"I really need to learn to say no and stick with it," he decided, "You get your own way too much, I'm weak when it comes to you, and you know it,"

"I love it," I admitted happily, before reverting to a more serious tone, "I love you."

"I love you too," he replied, before quickly adding, "more than you love me,"

"Not possible," I claimed, "I love you more,"

"That's where you're wrong," he smiled, "I love you more than life, which is why I'm so protective, if you died in some freak accident, say, by falling down a drain, I'd have to die too,"

His tone made me laugh, despite his eyes telling me he was serious.

"You're funny," I commented, still smiling widely, "never stop being funny,"

"I won't," he assured, "as long as you never stop being you,"

"Never," I agreed immediately.

I could sense his love and pride surrounding me, but I wasn't surprised, I'd grown used to it over the years, and we both knew that all we had left to do now, was live our lives, healthy, happy, and most importantly, together.

* * *

**This took me longer than anticipated, but that's because i'm lazy, and I seriously love writing the IP epilogue, which i really need to back off of, because i haven't finished the story yet. I'm aiming to update IP next, but if i'm inspired to write MIR, or even The Cobra if i'm needed to, then i will. No idea how long.**

**Review!!!**


End file.
